Well I just realized that it was Sonata on last night!!! I spent yesterday driving back from LA and its Moonlight Magic (right Alle?!), and I had planned on watching FTP tonight. Guess I'll be watching Sonata then, but I have to admit that I am quite upset about this. I really wish they had ended with FTP then, even if they didn't have the scheduling time to show Click WLB and Sonata. The re-turning scene in FTP is just so incredible, such a jewel, it's just such a pity that they didn't show it. And new viewers have now seen the end before the other 3, that makes no sense, they should have let them get hold of the later eps from the DVD or wherever then, but not that. Sorry, I just found out, so... yeah, I'm a bit riled up about it. I mean it is so cool that they aired the eps in the first place, I just wish... you know!!! Ok, end of rant and onto Sonata then.
It's always been difficult for me to know how I feel about Sonata. I don't know how else to say this that it felt strange, almost like part of an AU when I first watched it. I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the emotional state I was in, as indeed by then we knew ... what we know, it was a totally different experience. I watched it in a daze, a mixture of pain and numbness, and it felt like watching a show, being outside looking in, not like being in their universe feeling what they did.
That being said I'm kind of glad I'm not alone feeling funny about Beth in this one.
I know many of us enjoyed very much the little moments of tension in their relationship that made it more realistic, etc..., and there are some thing I liked about them, but overall, I have to admit they annoy me
The scene with Mick feeding on Simone and how angry Beth is afterwards does feel believable to me. Mick flirty with cheerleader girl... that's overdone to be Mick I feel. The bonding moment between Josef and Mick... I looove their interaction, their chemistry. But the commitment comment, to be honest... I still can't believe my ears. Mick and Josef are very different, that's what makes their chemistry I think, and that comment is a Josef thing to say allright, but I don't buy it for Mick, especially not referring to Beth... and Mick whining about Beth to Guillermo... nah!
But especially, I too feel Beth is well, yes... who's this girl?! As far as some aspects of her personality are concerned, she may be many things at once and that's what I love about her, but another thing I love is how she always wants to understand Mick, not judge him. She knows he's murdered innocent people for goodness sake, and she may choose not to think about that, but that's precisely because she's not interested in judging him. And now all of a sudden, in the middle of a romantic evening together, in a public setting where it is clear Mick doesn't have the opportunity to explain whatever he may need to, it feels like she's actively trying to find him at fault. At least that's how it feels to me, like she's almost trying to pick a fight. I don't know, it's true that being the die hard MickBethshipper I am, I might be idealizing their relationship, but that type of situation just doesn't ring true to me, it just seems silly and not like her. It feels like someone was trying to portray the "go-getter" "wants answers" Beth that she is indeed, but somehow missed the mark, because Beth would do that in a non-judgmental way, to know the truth, not reveling in trying to find Mick at fault, and to me it feels like that's the way it came out.
I really love the fact that Beth gets to identify with Emma, up to a point at least. Between Simone and Emma, we have two different people who get Beth to imagine what the long term may hold between her and Mick. Simone being human is like a mirror to who Beth is now, and Emma to who she could be. I'm not entirely sure why I like Beth's relationship with Emma more than with Simone. Perhaps because it feels less condescending in some way? I guess Simone's remark regarding drinking not being as intimate for vamps as for humans annoyed me. Even the way Beth refers to what happened in Fever does in fact, even if it is justified by the situation, because that event is holy to me. I didn't like seeing it "trivialised." But anyway, I really love the part played by Emma there. So I wish they had developed it more.
I actually loved the action scene, and Logan's unexpected dash. That made me laugh, and under the circumstances I was awed by that.
And yeah, I really like the way they portrayed vampire organization. That actually rings true to Moonlight's universe I feel, which is something difficult to achieve when you start going into the details of a world that obeys different rules from ours. But this felt like the right balance to me in terms of organization and hierarchy. I've always loved the fact that the vamps stay out of each others hair as much as possible, that we see practically no hierarchy among them, no official one at least. The rules Mick alluded to before seem restricted to the minimum necessary to protect the community's secrecy: you make a mess that would look suspicious to the humans, you're responsible to have it cleaned up, but beyond that no questions asked; you turn someone, you're responsible for him/her... It's not that I'm a die-hard fan of the wild west attitude in RL, but that's always made sense to me for lone predators like our vamps. What's going on in Sonata seems to me to respect that. We see the Cleaners in their cops role like we got a glimpse in DF, but it's not like they make all the decisions. All the vamps involved agree on what's to be done... and of course the fact that Mick comes up with the plan and they all play along, trusting him to call the shots is... satisfying. Sure it's Emma who put him in the hot seat to begin with, but beyond that he is respected and trusted by the others, the Cleaners included. I really love the way he is portrayed there, and especially when Emma and Jackson die. Implicitly or not, they've all agreed they need to go through with this, but when even Josef himself would rather not watch, Mick wants to. He refuses to make it easy on himself, and wants to face what they are doing to Emma and Jacskon out of respect for them, like something he owes them. It's totally in keeping with what he did in DF yes, but somehow it's even more powerful in Sonata.
wpgrace wrote:
Which is saying a lot, cos by this point in the series, I didn't even really care much for Beth anymore...
Just curious Grace... why not exactly? I mean, I could think of several reasons, but... just curious.
And then the drama with Emma about to get arrested and could they get to her in time to prevent it... dun dun dunnnnnn. Um, why didn't someone just pick up the phone and tell her to get the hell out of her office 'cause the cops were on the way?
