Amy's FINAL Choice: My Thoughts on 'The Angels Take Manhattan'

If you haven’t seen the fifth episode of series seven yet stop reading! Right now! Seriously…if you’re still reading you obviously didn’t listen to me. Oh well your funeral. As River would say…SPOILERS.

So I just finished ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ and to the surprise of many I’M NOT DEAD. I am a huge HUGEEEE fan of the Ponds, and I was honestly terrified at how I would handle their exit. But luckily Moffat is FUCKING BRILLIANT and gave us a perfect ending for the Ponds. Yes…the ending was bittersweet…but it tied in with all the themes we’ve seen throughout the Ponds’ history in the show.

There have been many themes in Doctor Who since Moffat took over. One of those themes has been Amy’s inability to stand still. Series 5 clearly showed us Amy has a bit of a problem with commitment. Which is understandable if you think about it - I mean, the only thing she ever committed herself to never held up its end of the bargain…What is the kid supposed to think? Anyhoo, because of Amy’s inability to commit she keeps running away – away from her life at home - away from Rory Williams.

Rory Williams, sweet Rory Williams, the boy who waited. As we’ve seen time and time again, Rory’s love for Amy is unbreakable.  However, due to Amy’s apparent commitment phobia, her love has always been more questionable. One of the main reasons I LOVED ‘Amy’s Choice’ is because Amy finally chooses Rory. Yes the Doctor is exciting. Yes she’s been waiting for the Doctor her whole life. But she belongs with RORY and she finally figures that out.

This episode kind of felt like ‘Amy’s Choice 2.0,‘ but not in a bad way. Again Amy has to make a choice…and again she chooses Rory…and it’s absolutely brilliant. In fact, she chooses Rory twice this time: once when she throws herself off a building with him and again when she lets herself get zapped back in time just so she can live out her days with the man she loves. As Mels said in ‘Let’s Kill Hitler,’ it’s always been them two, and this episode allows us to find out that it always will be them two, literally for as long as they live. It’s so beautiful, romantic, and true to character. And considering Mels is River Song, it makes sense that when Amy wants to leave at the end, River urges her to go. She knows her parents belong together, and even though the Doctor is screaming for her not to, Amy has to make that final decision…the decision to blink.

The theme with the Angels has constantly been “don’t blink.” The fact that blinking was how Amy “solved her problem” speaks volumes. We’re so used to blinking being a horrible, HORRIBLE thing in this show. Having encountered the Angels early on, Amy is deathly afraid of them and knows better than anyone to NEVER blink. But when it comes to Rory not only will she blink- she’ll do it willingly.

Something I thought was interesting about this episode was the fact that Amy encountered the Angels before. If I remember right (and please correct me if I’m wrong) Rory, never experienced the Angels first hand. Yes he saw them in ‘God Complex,’ but I’m not sure how much he was told about them at the time, and during that point they were only a projection. He was probably the character that knew the least, so naturally the Angels went after him (not to mention he’s prone to death so why wouldn’t they go after him).

Sidebar: I LOVED WHEN RORY MENTIONED THAT HE ALWAYS DIES. THAT SO NEEDED TO HAPPEN. I LOVE YOU MOFFAT. End sidebar.

Another thing I thought was interesting was that we find out why that random scene in ‘The Eleventh Hour’ exists. When we originally watch ‘The Eleventh Hour,’ towards the very end, we hear the Tardis noise and see a young Amelia sitting in her garden the morning after she waited all night, looking up and smiling. At the time I assumed it was a dream – her doctor finally coming back for her. But in this episode we find out he did come back when she was little, again, he just didn’t stay. His future self visiting her was very reminiscent of when his future self visits her at the end of Series 5. Remember…he reboots the universe…goes back in time…and goes to talk to her in that ANGELS episode (coincidence? I think not!)?? I just thought it was very fitting that it happened again (also explains why she was so sure he was coming back some day…I mean he went there TWICE…TWICE).

Anyhoo, the way this episode tied up the Ponds' storyline could not have been better in my opinion. This series has really shown us how strongly the Ponds are attached to the Doctor and vice versa. They would have kept living a split life unless something happened to sever that connection. This ending allowed that tie to be severed, while still allowing the Ponds to be happy…just in the past. Yes now they won’t have iPhones…but at least they’ll know to buy Apple stock, which hey, probably would make them a lot of money.

Now before I finish I also want to say, I can see why people wouldn’t like the way this ended. They might feel it was cheap. A cop out. A way to dispose of the Ponds without killing them. And yes…it was a way to dispose of the Ponds without killing them…but why does that make it a bad thing?  Yes in a sense this was a “happily ever after” but we’re allowed to get those every once in awhile. Amelia Pond is after all the name of a fairytale character.

What did YOU all think of the episode?? Did you love it? Hate it? Chime in below!!

THE DOCTOR IS BACK – SO I AM TOO

DISCLAIMER: If you've been watching Doctor Who forever, and already know the general concept, feel free to skip past the light blue sections.

Hi everyone, I’m back! Can’t promise for how long…but alas I am here. I admit, life got SUPER busy…and writing got pushed to the back shelf. When I started this blog, I was unemployed and had all the time in the world for it. I absolutely LOVED that. Unfortunately, one has got to make a living, and now that I am employed and planning a wedding (just got engaged!) I just haven’t had the time. But…when I can muster up the energy, I’d like to still write a post every now and again. And if I’m lucky…maybe you guys will continue to read them ;).

Now, as many of you have probably seen on Twitter, TV makes me EXTREMELY ENERGETIC (seriously check it out -> @thetvreferee - I get a little insane at times).  Anyhoo there is a show in particular that tends to make me bounce off the walls…and the fact that it is FINALLY BACK is what has led me to come back too. Any guesses for what that show is? …what? You’re telling me I already gave it away in the title?? WHAT? I even mentioned it in the disclai-- damnit! I have really gotta get used to this blogging thing again…

But yes, yes that show is DOCTOR WHO. On September 1st IT’S BACK BABY, and I am SO freaking excited I am scared I might combust.  Now if you are sitting there staring at this wondering who the hell this “Doctor Who” guy is get the fuck off my blog let me give you a BRIEF explanation (all you Whovian vets can just skip to the bolded ANYWAY).

Put in the simplest way possible, Doctor Who is about a 900 year old alien who travels around in a blue box saving the world from destruction (and unintentionally causing some himself). Many people get intimidated by Doctor Who because it’s been on for so long (the 50th anniversary is quickly approaching) but in truth the show is constantly changing, and that one sentence is all you really need to know.

If you feel that my sentence did not suffice however, here is a longer but still BRIEF explanation from the genius that is Nial Gaiman:

“People are intimidated. They think that there’s 47 years worth of stuff they need to know before they can enjoy anything. And what you want to say is, No. Look, there is a blue box. It is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It can go anywhere in time and space and sometimes even where it’s meant to go. And when it turns up there’s a bloke in it called the Doctor, and there will be stuff wrong and he will do his best to sort it out and he will probably succeed, because he’s awesome. Now sit down, shut up, and watch “Blink.”

What’s "Blink"? Well that's deserving of it's own post - so I'll have to address it at some other point. For right now just consider it a term synonymous with awesome.

ANYWAY so DW is back, very VERY soon, and BBC America has just released a TRAILER that seriously makes me...well watch it and then I’ll explain:

Doctor Who Series 7 Trailer

This piece of dialogue RIGHT HERE:

“How much trouble are we in right now?”

“On a scale of one to ten…eleven.”

Pretty sure I can already gaurantee that I will forever list that as one of my favorite Doctor Who quotes. Why? Well, you know when you’re watching something, and you feel like you can predict what a character is going to say, so you start SCREAMING in your head what you hope it is, and then swaying uncontrollably until said character is done speaking and you know whether or not your were correct?! No? Just me? ...ah well...as I was watching the trailer and Matt Smith spoke the line “On a scale of one to ten...” I was literally screaming in my head “SAY ELEVEN, SAY ELEVEN!“  (and yes I'm sure I was uncontrollably rocking back and forth too). So when he actually did say eleven, I just about died.

Now for those of you who don’t understand the importance of the Doctor saying eleven, again get the fuck off my blog  let me explain it to you. In Doctor Who, the Doctor is constantly “regenerating” (changing forms). This is why the show has been on for so long - because (as I said before) everything is constantly changing on the show - including the Doctor himself. Since the Doctor doesn't ever say his name (hence Doctor WHO) fans typically address the different doctors by their numbers. Matt Smith happens to be the ELEVENTH person in the role, which for all intents and purposes makes him "eleven," hence my freakout at his use of the word eleven :).

Now hopefully the actual episode will make me just as happy as that trailer did. Only time will tell (and now Asia is stuck in my head...) but I’m willing to bet that it will. I’ll keep you guys posted. In the meantime, if you are a Whovian yourself (extreme fan of Doctor Who), please feel free to flail about in the comments just as I did in this blog post.

Oh and newbies - I love you guys too, I can just be a bit snarky at times ;). Seriously though, if you would like to know anything else or have any Who related questions (or non-Who related questions for that matter!), leave a comment too, and I’m sure the Whovian vets will be more than willing to help you out! And if comments aren't your thing, you can always drop me a line on my contact page :)

T minus ONE WEEK!!!

Allonsy!

I Didn't Get Inception, SO MANY LAYERS: Community Goes Inside the Dreamatorium

Okay…I’m not really sure what just happened to my mind…but I’m pretty sure it was awesome. Normally I try to analyze episodes after I watch them…but my brain feels broken right now, so I’ll do the best I can.

Tonight’s Community was…well…something. Still not really sure what that something was (and I’ve watched it twice now) but alas it was something.

This year I had the pleasure of seeing the Community panel at Paley Fest. I specifically remember Dan Harmon talking about this episode. He said something akin to “this will either be the best episode to ever happen to television, or the worst.”  While I won’t go as far as to say that this was the best episode to ever happen to television, it was definitely good. I mean, it was an episode that took place in the dreamatorium…that in itself is quite a feat. We constantly hear about the dreamatorium, and occasionally we get glimpses of what Troy & Abed do in there, but we’ve never gotten to experience it the way we did tonight.

Abed is such a complex character. At the Community panel, Danny Pudi talked a bit about what it is like to play Abed. He made an interesting point that I had never thought of: although Abed acts emotionless on a constant basis, in actuality he is full of emotion-- it’s just internalized. This type of episode helps to explain exactly what Danny Pudi meant by this. We constantly see Abed as an observer, the impartial character that never lets feelings influence the situation(AHEM FRINGIES). And I don’t know about you guys, but since I think of him as an observer so much I tend to forget that he is still a person with emotions. He has insecurities like the rest of us. As Annie talked about in the end of the episode, Abed is afraid of not being needed and not fitting in. While these insecurities seem to affect Abed deeper than we know (I mean when he envisioned his friends’ thoughts, he assumed he would be tossed aside in some locker) they also are what tie Abed to the rest of the group. Hopefully his experience with Annie in the dreamatorium gave him some insight to this (and judging by the end scene where he smiles at Annie, I’d assume it did).

Okay now away from Abed, we also got a lot of great character development from Annie tonight. Even though Annie taught Abed some lessons tonight, Abed also taught Annie a few as well. We constantly see how obsessed Annie is with Jeff, but we never really delve into why she feels the way that she does. Tonight Abed made her confront her own feelings and try to analyze why she “loves” Jeff. This helped to bring some of her own securities into focus (i.e. wanting to be loved). Now as I’ve made clear plenty of times, I am a HUGE supporter of Jeff & Annie. I love them so much…so I was a little sad that she didn’t just admit her undying love for Jeff and ride off with him into the sunset. But if that would have happened, we wouldn’t be watching Community. Community isn’t a show about clichés. It’s a show about risks, risks that result in amazing television.

Now I’m not going to go into my spiel about why Community deserves to be renewed, and how asinine people must be for not taking the time to watch it (I do that enough on Twitter). But I will say that tonight was indeed another example of why TV critics rave about it, and fans remain so loyal (#sixseasonsandamovie).

What did you all think of tonight’s episode? Did you think it was brilliant? Or simply off its rocker (I’ve clearly been seeing too many commercials for Betty White’s new show)? I love hearing from you guys so please leave your thoughts below!

PS – Emma Claufield presented the very interesting theory on Twitter…perhaps this ENTIRE SEASON has been inside the dreamatorium…yeaaaah…think about THAT.

Comment away!!

Pillows vs. Blankets : Recap of Tonight's Epic Community

Oh Community, you silly silly show. Just when we start to think “this show can’t possibly get more ridiculous” you go and pull off something like this. You’ve already proven time and time again how great  you are at handling meta ideas...but tonight, well tonight you went above and beyond.

After last week’s horrifying cliffhanger (I mean come on, NO ONE wants to see Troy and Abed in a fight) we were all anxiously awaiting this week’s episode. I personally counted down until 8:00pm, trying to decide which side I wanted to be on (pillows or blankets...I eventually went with blankets). Finally when the time came and the show began I immediately knew that this would not be like any other episode we had seen before.

From the very first scene, I knew this episode was going to be epic. The combination of the title screen, camerawork, and monotone voice over, honestly made me feel like I was being thrown into a documentary. It’s truly hard to believe that a half hour comedy could have that type of effect, but it did. Everything was so well written and perfectly shot, that I could have sworn I was sitting in a classroom watching an actual Civil War documentary (a very chang-ter-taining classroom mind you).

One of the things that Community always manages to nail are the small details. From Shirley “Big Cheddar” Bennett to the Changlorious Bastards, tonight’s little moments were what made me laugh the most. Yes the main overarching theme was a pillow fight...but when you’ve got something as absurd as Community you have to look past the “funny theme” into the realm of unique comedy. So many sitcoms out there follow overused generic storylines *cough cough* Two and a Half Men *cough cough.* Community though, reinvents itself week after week, which is why it is so good. It’s hilarious...and smart. Unlike Two and a Half Men those other mindless sitcoms I refuse to name, Community isn’t afraid to take risks. They truly understand clever television and bring it week in and week out. There is a reason TV critics LOVE this show, and I only wish that the general population would get their heads out of their asses and learn to love it too.

While the small details are what really made me appreciate this episode, Community still touched on some key themes tonight. Like last week, Annie and Jeff were involved in a storyline together. Last week Annie taught Jeff how to apologize to a dead person (assuming said dead person isn’t alive, male, and named Kim) and this week Annie taught Jeff how to air out his emotions in a healthier way. She recommended a diary for him, and unbelievably, he actually wrote in a diary!! Jeff Winger...are you...growing as a person?? It’s so interesting how characters affect one another and I love how Annie has always been able to bring out the good in Jeff (i.e. actually studying for the debate in season 1). I’m hoping that they continue to have scenes together and that Jeff finally realizes what a catch Annie really is...

And to add to the Jeff Winger development story, the fact that he was able to repair Troy & Abed spoke volumes to me. It’s always been clear he cares about his friends, but for him to actually show it and express is in a diary...that’s some deep stuff there. Troy & Abed making up warmed my heart, and I loved that Jeff was able to bring them back together by emphasizing just who when they are (Yes that sounds weird, but it makes sense in the land of Inspector Spacetime). They are two best friends who are so obsessed with each other that they are willing to pillow fight for an eternity simply to stay together (I think that deserves a collective ‘AWWWW’). Seriously from character development, to hilarious insanity, tonight’s episode of Community had it all. Now if those Nielsen’s would start learning to appreciate good television...

PS. I love that Britta is the worst no matter what the circumstance. They should never let her have a camera ever again.


PSS. Did anyone else think it was a little unfair that the The Legit Republic of Blanketsburg got to fight with pillows? They should have been using blanket whips! Duhhh

Whoa Fat Betty... : Mad Men Writers Address January Jones' Real Life Pregnancy in 'Tea Leaves'

Well folks, it’s BACK. After 17 months of complaining (and binge drinking to fill the void that Roger Sterling and Don Draper left us with) Mad Men has finally returned to our screens! I decided to not write anything about the first episode because I wanted time to get back in the saddle and merely observe the awesomeness that is Don Draper’s world. But now that I’ve had some time to sober up…and now that Betty has made quite the appearance…well I just couldn’t keep a lid on it!

After the first episode I was perplexed as to why we hadn’t seen Betty yet. Even though Betty Draper- ahem, Francis - is a (and I’m sure we can all agree on this) dreadful human being, she is still someone I absolutely love to watch. I find Betty fascinating, and I admit I kind of revel in her misery at times (okay maybe I’m the dreadful human being, but seriously, a woman who’s best parenting technique is “go watch TV” kind of deserves some harsh treatment).  Because of my love/hate relationship with her character, I was kind of sad to see that she didn’t even make an appearance in the season premier. And as if that wasn’t enough, Betty wasn’t even in the PREVIEW for the next episode! That didn’t sit well with me…and it didn’t sit well with my friends either…so we tried to figure out what in the hell was going on.

One of my best friends theorized that perhaps they weren’t showing Betty because of a physical change. At the time we thought it might have been because Betty had dyed her hair brown to look like Megan…and I mean that makes sense right? What woman in her right mind (or even in her crazy Betty Draper mind) wouldn’t want to win Don Draper back? But boy, what ended up happening I did not see coming at all…which is pretty remarkable considering the size of the situation (sorry I had to).  Betty was physically different, but not because of a bad dye job. No, instead Betty appeared different because…well frankly the woman looked like she had eaten a cow.  

I totally understand why the writers chose to have Betty gain an insane amount of weight - January Jones was pregnant during the time of filming, and clearly they did not want to write another child into the show. So rather than having her hide her baby bump (which many television shows do with pregnant actresses), the writers instead created a huge storyline involving Betty and the possibility of thyroid cancer. I definitely think this was an interesting twist, but I’m not completely sure how I feel about it. I’m all for having Betty understand that beauty isn’t everything…but to turn this into a huge storyline focused on Betty’s newfound weight gain and the possibility of cancer? I feel like they already have enough mental issues with that woman, but I don’t know, maybe that’s just me. I’d like to hear what you think. Do you think this was an extremely creative way for the writers to accommodate Jones’ real life pregnancy…or do you think this storyline is a bit…bigger than it needs to be (yes, okay I’ll try to stop with the ridiculous puns)? Chime in below.

Oh and on a side note- who is surprised that Megan is still around?? I for one thought she’d be gone by the start of this season…but it’s not looking like she’ll be exiting stage left anytime soon…

Hey John GOODman, Stop Destroying Trabed: Review of 'Digital Exploration of Interior Design'

Hi everyone! Long time no blog! Seriously…it’s been almost a year…crazyness. But today was a milestone for me – I finally passed 800 followers on Twitter! So before I delve into anything TV related I just want to say thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this. Honestly, I appreciate each and every one of you and commend you for keeping up with the insanity that is my mind.

Now, onto the main event: Community. Normally when I write my blog posts, especially my blog posts about Community, I am in happy spirits. Right now though I am feeling sad…quite sad actually…and a bit hostile. Don’t get me wrong- I absolutely LOVED this episode…but my Troy and Abed heart is breaking!! As if last week’s episode wasn’t depressing enough (honestly who didn’t feel like shedding a tear when Abed didn’t high five Troy) now our two besties aren’t even on the same team?!?! Talk about an evil timeline! And of ALL people JOHN GOODMAN is the one trying to destroy their happiness?? For heaven's sake his last name has the word GOOD in it! I sure hope they find a way to work this out…and FAST, because like one of my followers mentioned, if this series ends with those two in a fight…I swear…you know what, let’s just not go there.

Okay onto happier thoughts! As has been the case for most of this season, tonight’s episode was brilliant. One of the main things I adore about this show is how meta it is. Honestly it is SO smart. It constantly finds ways to break the 4^th wall and manages to do so without being cheesy. Dan Harmon I applaud you for that. The smallest things in this show (like not mentioning lockers for 2 ½ seasons) Dan manages to weave into hilarious storylines. And not only are the storylines hilarious, they are meaningful too.

Admittedly I am a HUGE Jeff & Annie fan (yes, yes I understand why the age difference might gross some out, but in real life Alison Brie & Joe McHale really aren’t THAT far apart, so it’s hard to ignore the chemistry they have going). Anyhoo, like I said I’m a huge fan, so anytime those two are on screen together it makes me happy. They play so well off one another and I feel like we always get some great character development when they interact. For example, while tonight’s Jannie storyline provided us with a big dose of humor (I mean, a male “Kim” leaving hate mail in Jeff’s locker and claiming to be dead…that is the sort of randomness you can’t help but smile at) it also showcased some great character growth. A lot has gone on between Jeff & Annie romantically over the past two and half seasons that has yet to be resolved, so seeing Annie freak out at Jeff towards the end was definitely refreshing.  

Obviously the episode wasn’t just about Jeff & Annie though (or Troy and Abed for that matter). There was a third storyline going on that involved the rest of the gang anddddd *drumroll please* KEITH. Who is Keith you might be ask? Okay well for all you lame-o’s who didn’t watch the gloriousness that was Scrubs, Keith played a big role in that show back in Season 6. Since Scrubs I haven’t really seen him in anything else, so obviously I flipped out when he appeared on my screen tonight. And to find out he was playing “Subway”? BRILLIANT.  Honestly, there are things that only Community can pull off- and having a corporation being represented as a Human Being (see what I did there?) is one of those things.

Like Jeff & Annie, Keith (yes I am going to continue calling him Keith) & Britta’s story was funny, yet sweet. I really did start to feel for Britta when Keith (okay fine SUBWAY) was taken away from her. They shared so many interests…and were both so invested in eating fresh…it was obviously a relationship bound to end in happiness and blonde vegetarian children. But no! Like in real life, evil American corporations had to ruin it all! Who knows though maybe Keith…I mean Rick…I mean SUBWAY will reappear someday. We can dream.

One thing I did miss tonight – Chang. Whenever he isn’t present I miss him. But we DID have John Goodman…WITH a French braid…so I mean, plus points right there.

And now for my decision: was tonight’s episode a win or loss? Um, I think it’s pretty obvious, but just in case you can’t tell, I’d definitely score this one as a WIN. In fact I’d score this entire season as a WIN. Would you? Would you…woo? (Sorry haven’t blogged in forever…miss my HIMYM references). But seriously, would you rate this as a win?? Chime in below!

I swear…if NBC dares to take it off the air…then let’s just say NBC will be facing a dark timeline of its own…