Free time does not always mean focus. As it turns out. I have been a bit all over the place yet again these last two weeks, which as we’ve discovered makes Fortnightly Fixation posts… interesting, to say the least.
I am adamant that I will not be skipping one this year, but it sure is interesting to write a post under Fortnightly Fixations when you don’t currently have a fixation.
That said, the yet again disjointed nature of this fortnight means we are going to run through some of the things I’ve watched since we last caught up, and not necessarily do the usual Introductions for some of them, as we did last week. So into it we go!
SPOILERS!
NCIS: Where Am I?
Admittedly, not very far since last we spoke, but I have watched some so it is here! I am now due to watch Episode 1018: “Seek”, which is like seven episodes of progress. So, some progress.
I’m not eager for Ziva to leave, okay? I am actively procrastinating finishing the season, and my focus was drawn specifically into my favourite lesbian vampires for a hot minute so NCIS no longer monopolises my attention, despite the fact I do want to catch up. This means I have been watching while I’ve been eating, and then only. On top of that, only when I wasn’t already watching something.
However, slow progress is still progress. So, here’s its fortnightly mention. I am excited to be caught up and dreading the seasons without Ziva, and that’s while knowing that I actually like Ellie!
So, I suppose we just wait till it monopolises my focus again, and hope I binge when it comes.
In the mean time, briefly: Hey, the Israeli’s were back, oh, Eli’s dead. Vance’s wife too. Everyone’s doing fine… but, hey! At least the grief was mostly evenly spilt between the respective family members, ensemble casts don’t always manage that. Honestly, I wouldn’t have expected Ziva to deal with it any other way. Burying that deep feels about right for her.
I still very much love them, even if I’m not consumed by them, so yes, I did cry, and yes, I want to see what’s going to happen next. In due time.
On to the rest of the week, I think!
Princesses
Specifically, Anne Hathaway.
What can I say? The Idea of You reminded me how much I enjoy her movies, and inspired me to go back to a duology I’d watched before: The Princess Diaries. Not a wasted effort if I do say so myself.
I spend most of the movies in shock that the queen is Mary Poppins, and the rest of them admiring Anne Hathaway. They’re cheesy, and they’re fun. I will watch royal level sleepovers every day if you asked me to. Weird plot devices in the second one, but resolved much better than it could’ve been. Though, the Chris Pine romance is an odd one to me, I wasn’t entirely convinced by the end of the movie.
Point is, I do believe Anne Hathaway has made my list of ‘Reasons to Watch a Movie’, which is to say I don’t need to know much else beyond the fact that she’s in it to watch a movie. This is a short list of other actors, I’m sure will come up in the future.
Vampires? Carmilla! Where Am I?
End of the series technically! Three seasons, a prequel series and a movie down and done!
Then we started it again.
I adore them with my whole gay heart. So much so, I ranted and rambled and begged only slightly one of my also vampire and queer loving friends into watching it with me. So, I started it again, this time with them. We are exactly at the midpoint of Season 3, having just finished Episode 318: “The Heart of The Matter”, and due to finish the whole thing next week. I think they’re enjoying it, and why wouldn’t you? Gays? Vampires? Recipe for a masterpiece, especially if you already love both ingredients.
I remain unable to put my thoughts on Carmilla into coherent sentences that last. Every time I rewatch it they change. Mostly when I’m rewatching Season 2, actually. When I’m watching it everything that is happening makes complete sense, but then I step away and try to put a linear thread through the relationship drama and it feels strangely hard. I adore them, and the writing is beautiful and I refuse to believe there’s anything but the usual hiccups at fault with it. It makes total sense in the moment, everything that happens, but then out of it I want to put down the logical reasons why one thing happens to another and it looks more like a messy crime board than a, admittedly, wild rollercoaster. I can’t figure out why. Chances are I’m overthinking it, I generally do, but that doesn’t mean certain pieces of media aren’t worth the overthinking. I do think Carmilla is that well-written that that much thought was put into it, if not to the confusing degree that I tend to do, but still enough!
This web-series is beautiful. This is one of those things I will not be taking opinions on. Regardless of how much you enjoy the lesbians, the vampires and the world ending drama, Carmilla is beautiful. In the sense that I will accept the opinion that this is not your cup of tea, but I will not let you say that it is bad. It is not. Fine, you don’t like vampires? It’s not for you, but it’s still beautiful.
All this to say, the linear thought is gonna take me some time to ruminate on. I tried to write it for today and it got messy. It may look like the planning of a choose your own adventure, I’m sure. As lovely as some of the points were, and as much as I want to share, it got a bit too disjointed for me to finish up and publish for today. So, it is coming. I need to think it through and re-edit it like sixteen times, but it is coming eventually. It may end up on Random Rambles, but nevertheless it will appear, once I wrap my head around it. I love them, and I have so much to say, the issue is getting it down into coherent points that don’t jump around like a rambling grasshopper. So, just bare with for that one.
Finally, Orphan Black: Where Am I?
It’s new! I know… but I don’t want to do the Introduction for it right now. So, instead of tacking it on in this amalgamation of a post it will get it’s Introduction when it gets it’s own post, which like Carmilla is due one in the future, Orphan Black is definitely due it’s own one, as well, when the time comes.
That said! I am currently due to watch Episode 308: “Ruthless in Purpose and Insidious in Method”. Their episodes seem to generally have long titles with fancy long words, and I’m not really sure why, but they’ve picked a format and I like it so it’s good.
Those of you familiar with Orphan Black will know what a turn I have taken. I mean, NCIS to this you can almost track the line of, but Carmilla to this? Yeah, that’s a stretch. I suppose… lesbians?
Needless to say I do believe I started this because I saw they were doing a spin-off series starring Krysten Ritter, who I liked in Jessica Jones, so I thought, ya know, why don’t I go back and finish the original series seen as I never finished it. I needed something to watch when my friend wasn’t here to watch Carmilla with anyways. Currently, I would say that was a good decision. I am, at least, invested again. Fixated? Perhaps not, but invested, yes. I’m not too surprised by my investment as I watched Season’s 1, 2 and most of 3 way back. It’s been long enough that I couldn’t remember a lot of the specifics. I enjoyed it enough then, up until a lot of the Castor stuff, I think, but we’re going to try stick with it this time.
Orphan Black is, in one word: dark. Dark enough to feel almost concerning when you’re talking about it. One of those things you feel the need to restate you’re talking about something fictional just in case someone sees or hears part of your conversation out of context. Where you read your texts back and hope the algorithm recognises you’re talking about a TV Show and do not suddenly have a vested interest in abduction schemes. So, ya know, this will be interesting to post about.
I am not unfamiliar with a dark series. The Handmaid’s Tale is a series I enjoy quite a bit, if only because Elizabeth Moss is a damn fine actor, but it is also a series I can watch once a year tops, if that. Orphan Black falls into a similar sort of dark category for me. Yes, Orphan Black has been over for a few years, but THT, for example, is still going for at least one more season. They are the kind of show I will be invested enough to track the seasons but not necessarily get consumed by, if only for my own mental health sometimes. I may not have quite caught the Orphan Black bug the first time, but so far this time it’s looking like I will, now that it’s been over for a good few years, but it will at least bring me to the spin-off perhaps. Just as I am waiting for the new season of THT, but I will not rewatch until it’s just around the corner, probably. That’s not a guarantee, but you have to be in a mind space to tolerate THT as much as you may like it. I am invested, and I like it, but damn is it not a good thing to be fixated on. Binge in a couple weeks, fine, yes, but it’s one of those that having something lined up to cleanse your palette afterwards is vitally important. Being fixated and then lost on The Handmaid’s Tale? Recipe for disaster, and I’m feeling the same applies to Orphan Black.
So, that said. Orphan Black is not something I would rewatch often, but I am invested enough, probably close to being fixated but not quite yet. I may line up something up to watch immediately after finishing it just in case. I love the characters, half of them played by the one Tatiana Maslany, who is part of the reason I put it on again. I do enjoy Maslany’s performances, and, by god, did she earn an Emmy with these ones. Occasionally you forget that half of them are being played by the same person, they are all so distinct. The make-up helps with that, but, my god, Maslany’s performance really sells it. I am just continuously impressed by the range that she displays in this show alone. She somehow has amazing chemistry with herself and like four different kinds of chemistry with Felix and etc. depending on the clone. So, one freakin’ well done to her. Some of the shots genuinely feel like bragging when they have just so many clones together and sometimes hugging, but you know what, I appreciate the talent, the time, effort and likely several stunt doubles involved in order to get those shots, so an extra well done to everybody.
Yet, despite them all having the same face, I have favourites. Alison’s soccer mom drug dealing is of little interest to me, but I adore Sara and Cosima with my whole heart. Cannot look away when they’re on screen. Rachel is a prick. I despise her.
On the other characters, despite Sara’s on and off beef with Siobhan, I adore her, questionable choices not withstanding. Felix, in my opinion, can do no wrong. Now that murder and drug dealing has brought the Hendrix’s together, because nothing fixes a marriage like multiple felonies, Donnie is now growing on me. Speaking of THT, actually, we will all notice Rita running against Alison in her election thing, because Alison seems addicted to layering her life with stress despite her drinking issues. Like being a clone wasn’t enough, but then again, no one cares about Alison, do they?
Cosima is the latest dying clone. She is test subject number one for all procedures, and she is researching most of them herself. They (as in Leda and Castor) have a vested interest in curing this defect issue of theirs, which I think Duncan implies they accidentally caused themselves by ensuring their infertility. As such, we care about Cosima because she’s dying until we fix this.
Helena and Sara are walking freakin’ miracles of biology. Duncan may explain they are failures of clones as they were designed to be infertile, but hey! Their biology probably holds all the answers, as everyone has decided and as such everyone wants a piece of their respective pies. An analogy that is not terribly incorrect considering the sheer number of times each has been abducted and then… so many unspeakable things… without their consent. I think many people are forgetting they’re actually human beings, and just pursuing and taking what they please. This is a target neither of them can run from, it’s their biology after all. You can tell them to stay out of it as much as you want, but I have a sneaky feeling that until Leda and Castor get what they want they will quite literally never be safe. A threat that unfortunately extends to poor little Keira.
So, yeah, there’s a lot going on and it’s a lot to deal with and I may watch a sitcom after I’m done, but I’m enjoying it because the character’s are worth it. That’s it, isn’t it? A plot can do whatever it damn well pleases but if your character’s are worth being invested in people will stick around for everything. This is true of myself. I do watch dark things, but not as often as I’ll watch a crime drama or supernaturally tinged just about anything, which strangely crime dramas register as less dark but moving on from that. This is not new territory I’m treading, and so long as the characters are worth my investment, I will stick around and power through more things than I think I’m willing to admit. June Osborne is worth my investment, Sara Manning and Cosima Niehaus are worth my investment. So, I will mute the scenes I need to mute and turn away from the things that turn my stomach to power though for everything else. Goddamn, I want to see their happy ending now! I want to see them happy, and from time to time, in amongst the truly horrifying mess that can sometimes occur, they are happy. So, that’s why we watch, right? You got me to love them, so I will watch you pile on the trauma just to see them happy at the end of it.
Besides, all the writer’s know trauma makes a damn good story. Just don’t glorify it.
To Conclude
Thanks for sticking around for another one!
I feel like I promise a lot of posts that are yet to make their appearances, but they will eventually, I swear. If only because they are so totally going to come up, again. I rarely watch things once and never return to them. So, everything will get their limelight, it just may take me some time to get around to it.
Nevertheless, thank you once more. I hope this one was a fun read. I may have got briefly lost in Carmilla ramblings that is not here, but I did enjoy writing it. Furthermore, I hope you’ll join me for the next one in two weeks time where who knows what you’ll be reading about but it hopefully promises to be just as entertaining.
You can follow me on Instagram at: @thebomff or on Threads at: @thebomff
On to the next!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, narratives or characters present or referenced in this post. All rights belong to CBS, Walt Disney Pictures, Kinda TV, BBC America and all other relevant parties.