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Parks and Recreation
I liked this episode quite a bit! I mean, it's Parks, I pretty much just enjoy every episode, so I end up feeling kind of repetitive each time I talk about it, but oh well.
First off, THE BEN AND APRIL STORYLINE, OH MAN. I could watch an entire episode of just those two in a car. I know a lot of people too have mentioned shipping them a little after this ep and then there's been backlash to that from people who are super into Leslie/Ben, and… idk, it seems silly to freak out about other people finding Ben/April potentially interesting, but whatever. As for me, while I've gotten better at multi-shipping over the past few years, there are some ships where I just can't think about the characters with anyone else, and Leslie/Ben is definitely one of those ships for me (I mean, they're pretty much my OTP of all OTPs, so). But that being said, there was a look Ben shot at April at the end that made me go, "Oh," and if Leslie didn't exist, their dynamic would be something I would totally be into. But I just can't think of Ben with someone who's not Leslie, so I can't really say that I ship Ben/April at all, even if their dynamic was super fun. Basically, I am totally up for all the Ben/April interaction in the future (I HAD NO IDEA HOW AMAZING SENDING BEN AND APRIL OFF TO WASHINGTON WOULD BE, BUT IT IS THE GREATEST!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ALMOST NEVER WANT THIS TO END, I JUST WANT A SPIN-OFF SHOW WITH JUST THEM IN D.C.!!!!!!) but I just can't think of them in a romantic context.
But apart from that side of the Ben/April stuff, can we just take a second to appreciate the fact that Ben writes Star Trek fanfiction in canon??? I WAS ABSOLUTELY DYING WHEN HE STARTED READING IT ALOUD OH GOD. Seriously all the Ben/April stuff was just gold. "Why aren't we moving?" / "Because OTHER CARS."
Anyways, as for the other storylines, I mostly liked Leslie's storyline, but I am getting a little tired of the City Council plots??? I'm ready for her to have a storyline that just has to do with the Parks dept, because, I mean… she does still work there, right? I mean, I thought the writers had made a point in the past that part of what's great about the City Councilwoman position for Leslie is that it's part-time, and I think she even referred to that fact on the show? So I'm ready to see a non-City Council storyline for her. It's not that I dislike it, just that Leslie having a new City Council issue in every episode is starting to get a little tiring, just like having 3 episodes in a row of campaign stuff last season got a little tiring, and I just want some more variety. But that being said, I didn't dislike her storyline! I think I just wasn't as into it as the other 2 storylines this ep, and the aforementioned City Council fatigue. But I did love how Tom was used in helping Leslie, and how he pushed the dude into the pool at the end!!!! Although I do have to say that the perm stuff didn't really work for me? The only parts I really enjoyed were "When the Ann's away, the mice get perms!" or whatever that line was, and then the perm being ruined by jumping into the pool, other than those 2 moments, I didn't really see the point? idk.
The Ron storyline was so great!!!!!!!!! Lucy Lawless is a great love interest for him. AND ANDY, OH GOD, HOW GREAT WAS HE????? PLAYING PRINCESSES WITH THE GIRLS AND THE MAKEUP AND PRINCESS RAINBOW SPARKLE AND THE MESSAGE TO DIANE OR WHATEVER HER NAME WAS ABOUT RON LIKING HER AND CITY HALL 1ST FLOOR. IT WAS ALL JUST SO GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have nothing but flailing for that storyline!!!!!!!
So yeah, anyways, this show is the greatest as always, the end.
New Girl
Ok, this is ridiculously late, but there were some things I wanted to talk about anyways:
NICK/JESS!!!!!!!!! GODDDDD MY HEART. Everything between them was so entertaining!!!!!!!!! HIS FACE WHEN HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO SHOWED UP TO THE GROUP DATE AND SEEING JESS IN THAT DRESS!!!!! I loooooved that he was all awkward and weird and made the "Vavavavoom," type noises!!!! IT WAS TOTALLY LIKE SEASON 1 AWKWARD JESS!!!!! I LOVE THAT HE'S AWKWARD AND WEIRD IN HIS OWN WAY AS WELL!!!!!!!! AND THEIR DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND THEN THEIR ARGUMENT AND NICK LYING ABOUT THINKING ABOUT JESS EVEN THOUGH HE TOTALLY ADMITTED TO IT LAST SEASON AND "SLEEPING NICK IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT GUY!!!" AND JESS HAS THOUGHT ABOUT IT AND NICK'S FACE AT THAT!!!!!!!!! AND "ARE YOU HAPPY, NOW I HAVE TO GET TO KNOW THE GUY I'M SLEEPING WITH!" GOD I LOVE YOU JESS. AND WINSTON TELLING NICK THAT IF HE MAKES JESS THE DRESSER THEN IT IMPLIES THAT ONE DAY HE'LL SHARE IT WITH HER. AND THEN HE MAKES IT ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, apart from all the flailing about Nick/Jess, I did want to discuss something that I didn't think about while watching a show but saw pointed out afterwards, which was kind of the Nice Guy implications of the episode and if the show was agreeing with Winston and Nick, which… I was kind of conflicted about this at first when I was thinking about it. And, like, I do think Winston was 100% wrong that a guy can't be helping out a girl like Nick was helping out Jess just as friends, that those are things only a boyfriend would do, and I don't know that the show really called him out for being wrong, and I wish that it had. As for Nick, I was less annoyed with him just because… he actually didn't seem to mind helping Jess without "the rewards" (WHICH WAS A GROSS LINE, OK, UGHHH, THAT WAS THE ONE POINT WHERE I DID KIND OF WANT TO SLAP NICK) until Winston decided to point it out and tell Nick he couldn't continue that type of relationship with Jess. And I did end up coming down on the side of the episode not annoying me in regards to the message because the fact is that Nick DID make the dresser for Jess at the end. Winston specifically calls out the fact that Nick can't make the dresser because it implies they will share it, but he decides to do it anyways, knowing fully that he's just helping her out as a friend and it's not going to mean anything for them, you know? And Nick's whole line about not wanting people to tell him what he can't do with her or what their relationship should be or whatever. So ultimately I decided that the storyline didn't bother me and it wasn't totally siding with Winston.
The other storylines weren't quite as enjoyable for me. Schmidt pretending to be a Romney was pretty entertaining, but it got old after awhile. I did love his scene with Cece, but at the same time, I still want more for Cece!!!!! I want her to have her own storyline that's not just about helping Schmidt and/or Jess!!!!! The Winston storyline I really didn't care for. Like, just… the fact that he was literally imaging having sex with every girl he saw was just… idk, creepy and also disrespectful to his girlfriend? If he was upset about not having sex with her, he should have just TALKED to her like an adult. And the resolution of that storyline was super weird? It seems like they're going to be breaking up pretty soon, which is disappointing since I really liked them last season, but oh well. If they don't break up, though, then the ending of that storyline is just bizarre.
Anyways, as much as I ship Nick/Jess and have enjoyed flailing about them for the past 3 eps, tonight's episode doesn't seem like it's going to be as shippy for them, which is fine by me because it's getting a bit exhausting. And, as I've said in the past, I do want them dragged out more, so I don't want every episode being as ridiculously shippy as these past few have been. AND NEW EPISODE TONIGHT, YAY!!!!!!!! I JUST REALLY LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Mindy Project
I'm still just liking this show when I want to love it? It's like… there are a lot of elements there that should be working but something's just not quite meshing for me yet. But it's only the 2nd episode and I have a lot of hope that it'll improve, and I do think it was an improvement from the pilot, so there was that.
I mean, SETH MEYERS!!!!! I was not expecting him to pop up, but that was a great cameo, and I can totally be into this show just for the random cameos tbh. And he and Mindy were cute together!!!! Just, what happened to their date??? Is he coming back, or was that it for him????
Danny's still a little more abrasive to Mindy than I want him to be, but I think he was better here than in the pilot, and I did love when they were both trying to convince the boss guy (is he the boss? I don't even know) that they're secretly best friends outside of work. But the one thing that did really piss me off was the scene where he and the boss guy are deciding that Mindy can't be trusted to oversee hiring the new nurse because yes clearly the WOC can't handle this, we must have the 2 white dudes come in and make sure she doesn't get it wrong!!!! ughhhh. The resolution to that storyline was pretty entertaining, at least.
So yeah, idk, I'm definitely going to be sticking with this show for awhile, but I still kind of wish I was more in love with the show than I am right now.
I also don't have anything really specific to say about them, but I'm loving Elementary, Go On has really grown on me more than I ever expected (I'm in it mostly for Anne and Owen and John Cho, but the rest has been pretty enjoyable too!), and Ben and Kate is pretty cute and I'm also enjoying it more than expected.
So I ended up spending the past week catching up and watching season 6 of Dexter (and then the 2 eps from this season), and now I have thoughts!
Dexter
Dexter was actually one of my absolute favorite shows from seasons 1-5, and even though a lot of people I know dislike seasons 2-3 (and 5, too, I think?), I've really enjoyed the whole series. But I had way too much TV to watch last fall and ended up not watching the premiere when it aired and then never could find time to catch up on the season, and I figured I'd just get caught up when it finished. And then I got spoiled for everything with Deb falling in love with Dexter and I thought I had gotten spoiled for them actually kissing (which… apparently I misunderstood whatever I read in regards to that since there was only the kiss in Deb's dream), and just… I was very, very against anything developing between them and the fact that the writers decided to introduce that element made me really angry, so I ended up not ever watching season 6. But I did hear about her finding out about Dexter, and I was kind of interested by that, and then I heard so many amazing things from critics about how this season had started off, so I finally decided to catch up on season 6.
And… I didn't hate it! I mean, the main season long arc was definitely one of the weakest of the series. I had been spoiled for Gellar just being a hallucination and I'm not sure if I would've caught that on my own if I hadn't already been spoiled for it, but knowing it in advance definitely made that even more boring. I mean, really, the season wasn't awful so much as it was just boring overall.
The Deb falling for Dexter stuff didn't actually bug me as much as I thought? What I had heard when I was spoiled made Deb come off as really pathetic in a way? But it was… okay. idk, I mean, the dream sequence where there's all this ~tension between her and Dexter and then they kiss had me absolutely cringing. I think if I had watched the episodes as they were airing unspoiled, I would have absolutely hated it, but having a year to get used to the idea and then watch the episodes and have them not be as bad as expected made me kind of okay with it. Like, the thing is, I just adore Deb more than anything???? I JUST WANT EVERYTHING TO TURN OUT OKAY FOR HER, IT'S ABSOLUTELY ALL I CARE ABOUT IN REGARDS TO HOW THIS SHOW ENDS. I'm so nervous that she's going to be killed off before the end of the series (or even just by the end of this season, because I don't see Dexter getting reformed for good and it lasting all season, but I also don't see Deb adjusting to him being a serial killer, so I don't really see how the show resolves this outside of killing either Deb or Dexter). But anyways, all I want is her happiness, which she absolutely is not going to get being with Dexter romantically, that just can't end well for either of them. But then… their relationship has also always been one of the most interesting parts of the show for me and I may have found myself wanting them to make out a little in 7.02??? STOP JUDGING ME so. I just don't know what my feelings are doing anymore basically. JUST GIVE ME DEB'S HAPPINESS AND I DON'T REALLY GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE, THE END.
um, anyways. The other stuff in season 6 was all rather boring and pointless. I normally am totally into office politics (politics of any sort, really), but I just couldn't bring myself to care about whatever was going on with Laguerta and the Captain and everything. Although it was nice seeing Deb make Lieutenant!!! (As I said and will continue to say throughout the remainder of the show, I just want things to work out for her!!!!!!) But mostly I didn't care about that stuff. And Quinn falling apart after Deb broke up with him, ugh, so annoying and tiring to watch him continuously spiraling. And Batista really didn't have anything to do but play sidekick to Quinn which wasn't very interesting, although I guess I prefer that to Laguerta/Batista which was the worst and thank god we're done with that. And then the stuff with the interns which was also boring and Louis is creepy and the worst and Dexter needs to kill him already.
I mean, really, I feel like a large part of the issue with season 6 was that it was a lot of set-up? I feel like a lot of it was putting the pieces into place so Deb could realize she's in love with Dexter right before she finds out the truth about him and introducing Louis for whatever's going on with him this season and Mike as well (although I'm seriously annoyed that they introduced him in season 6, did basically nothing with him at all, no development of his character whatsoever, and then killed him off ~shockingly in the premiere.) and like… maybe they planned to do this stuff sooner but then realized they needed to drag it out more, or like… they were focusing on setting up all this stuff so much that they forgot they needed some sort of season long mystery so they just pulled the Doomsday Killer stuff out of their asses at the last second and then it was just dull and awful.
ALSO IT WAS RUDE TO BRING BACK RUDY/BRIAN FOR AN EPISODE!!!!!!! Really it was rude of the show to keep referencing the stuff in earlier seasons because it just made me miss those seasons. But mostly that made me miss season 1 and Rudy/Brian because that was legit one of my favorite seasons of television of any show ever, ugh.
But anyways, it wasn't the worst season of a show I've seen, it was mostly just boring, as I said, but I could probably watch it again in the future. BUT SEASON 7, MAN!!!! Season 7 has started off so wonderfully. Every Deb/Dexter scene is just killing me!!!!!!!! Not in a shippy way for the most part, but just… ugh!!!! Deb being such a good cop and figuring out Dexter was lying to her and confronting him about being a serial killer at the end of the premiere (HER ARC IS SO BEAUTIFUL TO ME OMG SHE HAS COME SUCH A LONG WAY FROM SEASON 1) and her "Well fuck me for ruining your night!" when they're arguing after she finds out the truth about him and HE DOESN'T KILL LOUIS BECAUSE HE PROMISED DEB!!!!!!!!! HE PROMISED HER!!!!!!!!!!! God I really don't see this lasting all season but ughhhh my heart. Also, I was thinking that they had made Deb fall in love with Dexter solely to make the pain of finding out the truth about him that much worse and to give her the extra motivation not to turn him in after finding out, but… 7.02 made me less sure that they're done with the romantic stuff between them??? Just how the other murderer guy assumed that Deb was his girlfriend (because that's such a like… I don't want to say cliche, but it kind of is, where other people think 2 people who are not together are dating, and eventually they will be together) and then when he and Deb were talking at the end and she's like "None of us are really normal" and then his look as she's walking away??? I DON'T KNOW.
Also, having Laguerta being suspicious that the Bay Harbor Butcher is still working is so great because she was the only one who never believed Doakes was the BHB, and anyone else who saw that slide probably wouldn't have gone down the same road as her, so having it be her to find the slide was so great, and I'm interested to see where this leads! Although it's making me feel like she's not going to make it out of this season alive.
Anyways, I'm so excited for the rest of this season! I'm more cautious about having like 100% faith in this show after season 6, but it is nice to be excited about the show again considering it was one of my absolute favorites on TV for quite a few seasons!
I decided to start watching Once Upon a Time. I had resisted watching it for awhile, but enough people whose taste I trust seem to be enjoying it overall and I do love fairytales and idk, I was bored and wanted something new to watch, and the first season is up on Netflix Instant Watch, and I'm like 80% more likely to watch something if it's up on Netflix. I expected just to be entertained by it while being irritated by some aspects, and there is some stuff I don't love, but overall I actually am enjoying it a lot more than I expected (I'm a little less than halfway through the first season), and it's given me feelings a couple times unexpectedly, so yeah! I think I'll be adding it to what I'm watching this season! I'll post more in depth thoughts once I've gotten all caught up, anyways.
I've been trying to post more than just once a week but this past week kind of got away from me! And I have some real life stuff to talk about, both work and otherwise, and for once I'm not going to be complaining about the new coworker because things have improved with her, yay!
So I mentioned that I found out that another one of my coworker's was also irritated with the new coworker, and we also discovered that basically every single other person working there who's not in management (which sounds like a lot, but we're SUPER small and also short-staffed, so that's only 3 additional people actually. But still, all of us who are non-management!) were also irritated by her for the same reasons. So I came in on Thursday, and my coworker told me that they had all told my supervisor when she came in about their issues with the new coworker (who has later hours than all of them, she has the same schedule as me, so she wasn't in when they were talking to our supervisor) and my supervisor was apologetic for not having noticed the issues and said she'd talk with her and our boss about those issues. And at first I was kind of… idk, nervous? I was afraid it would cause more tension between everyone if she felt she had been called out by us. And my supervisor was a little upset with me for not having told her I had been having issues with the new coworker since she thought we were closer and wished I had felt I could have come to her about it, and I felt really bad about it, but just… it's hard to call someone out like that, you know??? Especially when my supervisor seemed to love the new coworker and I didn't want to cause problems, and I didn't know that anyone else was also having issues with her until recently. But anyways, they talked to her, and… it's actually been great so far!!!! She's stopped asking constantly questions that she's already asked before and interrupting what everyone else is doing and expecting everyone to just attend to her!!!!!! So thank god for that, I'm just hoping it'll keep up.
And we had a new girl come in on Friday, and she's been okay so far? I mean, I'm hesitant to really say yet if I think she'll stick around because like… we've definitely had more people come in over the past year who haven't lasted than those who have, so the odds are not in her favor. But so far no warning bells have been set off for me yet to make me think she definitely won't work out, so that's good, and she seems nice enough.
In terms of non-work stuff… I mean, I haven't really talked about it much recently, but my plan originally a year ago, when I first got this job, was only to work at this place for 1-2 years and no more. I mean, even 2 years total seemed like a lot, but I also wasn't ready to apply to grad schools last fall, so there was nothing I could really do about that. And now it's October and I'm realizing that I really need to be applying places or taking some kind of initiative if I don't want to be still working here through 2014. But the thing is… ugh, idk, I just get so much anxiety when I start thinking about future stuff, and I have such an avoidant personality that the second I start feeling anxiety, I just… avoid whatever it is that's causing me anxiety, which is making any progress to doing anything that's not staying at this job for more than 1 more year. And like… the issue is just that I have no idea what I want to be doing that's not this? I have a lot of interests, but nothing I'm just so passionate about that I really want to pursue. Every possible career path I can think of has at least one major drawback that's preventing me from really wanting to pursue it, so instead I've just been doing nothing.
And my mom was mentioning to me back in April how a friend's mom had been telling her that my friend had gone to a career counselor and it had really helped, and at the time I was like, "No I'm fine leave me alone," because, as I said, I am avoidant, and I just… didn't want to talk about it. And then after that I regretted it because, truth be told, I really do need to talk to someone about what I want to do with my life because I can't figure it out myself and I don't really feel like I can totally talk to my parents about it (not that they're not great and understanding, just… they're not exactly impartial observers, you know?) and wasn't sure how to bring it up again. But my mom brought it up off-handedly last week at dinner, and I started feeling that anxiety again and was ready to just blow it off, but I stopped myself and was like, "It probably wouldn't be a bad idea for me to talk to a career counselor," and my mom was like "Ok, I'll find out that person's name that your friend had seen!" And so that's a thing that's going to happen now, I guess. I mean, I don't have like a set appointment yet, but. It's going to happen. And I feel kind of stupidly accomplished for that? I mean, it feels a little ridiculous to feel accomplished just at going to meet with a career counselor because there's so far to go past that still, and I don't know that I have enough time to apply to grad schools for fall 2013 admission, so I may in fact be stuck in this job and stuck living at home for another 2 years. But it's still progress, and I am kind of proud of myself for not just doing my usual thing of avoiding any discussion of the future and pretending things are fine or that I can get to that stuff later when time is running away from me and I really do need to figure this crap out. So. Yay! Now let's just hope it's actually helpful!