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ariadnes_string) wrote2010-11-09 08:24 pm
ariadnes_string) wrote2010-11-09 08:24 pm
Entry tags:
H50 1.08 (in which I talk about feelings more than sex)
H50 1.08
Okay, y’all, it might be because I’ve spent the last two days home with my miserably sick five-year-old, but I have no snark for this episode. Maybe I was kind of worn out and mushy to begin with, but it left me feeling like it delivered on feelings other than slashy-ness.
Go ahead, you can mock me, it’s okay.
This was the second episode in a row to anchor its emotional impact in fathers’ relationship to their children (Graham in 1.07; Danny, Meca, and most strikingly, Sang Jin (I have no idea how to write his name, pls. correct me!) here in 1.08). But rather than feeling that this was cheesy or cheap (though of course it is an easy way to humanize characters), I was totally touched by the depth of feeling involved. I particularly liked the way the show never questioned the adoptive relationship between Graham and his daughter in 1.07, and unapologetically presented it as much more “real” than her biological relationship with her birth father. And I liked the continuity of bringing back Sang Jin’s wife and daughter (the wife, if I’m remembering correctly, is Rwandan, another interesting detail). Clearly, one of the themes of the show is found family, but I also liked the way in the latter instance (b/w Danny and Sang Jin) an empathy between parents cut across all kinds of other differences.
This was also the second episode in a row to focus on how “knowing” someone is more important than any empirical evidence about them, this time with Danny and Steve’s roles reversed. Granted, this isn’t a particularly original theme, though it’s a good one. But the actors all really sold it, didn’t they? And not just in a biblical knowledge kind of way. And l liked the way that neither case was about blind loyalty, but, again, about empathy (Steve “knows” what it means to be a soldier/SEAL; Danny “knows” that Meca would never leave his wife and child, in part because he feels that way about his own child—if not his wife ;)).
And even though I enjoyed all the Steve/Danny yelling and bickering and flirting and heart-struck looks as much as usual, the scenes I liked best in 1.08 (and I’ve watched it twice, since I convinced J. to watch it with me again, since we were stuck at home, and he was clinging to me like a sad little sick barnacle anyway) were the ones between Danny and Sang Jin, especially the one in prison. The quiet intensity of their negotiation was all kinds of wonderful, especially after Danny had been doing so much shouting. Y’all know I have a thing for voices, and I adored Danny’s gravely, my-gentleness-is-just-the-external-sign-of-my-fierceness thing.
Other things I liked:
*The reveal that Chin is an art connoisseur! The possibility of an H50/White Collar x-over lives!
*The little “I can’t believe mom and dad are fighting in public again, it’s so embarrassing” looks Kono and Chin exchanged in that scene in the briefing room.
*The return of the dynamic, in the scene outside the prison, in which Danny yells at Steve, Steve realizes the error of his ways mid-rant, apologizes--because he’s a straight-up kind of guy that way, and Danny is caught spinning his wheels in mid-air, like Wily E. Coyote, because he’s not used to people actually ignoring the rant and getting the point. Steve doesn’t give in—he just realizes he’s wrong, apologizes because that’s the right thing to do, and, as he says, “moves on.” It’s a lovely character point for both guys.
And that’s all without even talking about the slashy bits! But given what I said above, I expect you can imagine how much I loved Steve’s “I know you” at the end.
Okay, y’all, it might be because I’ve spent the last two days home with my miserably sick five-year-old, but I have no snark for this episode. Maybe I was kind of worn out and mushy to begin with, but it left me feeling like it delivered on feelings other than slashy-ness.
Go ahead, you can mock me, it’s okay.
This was the second episode in a row to anchor its emotional impact in fathers’ relationship to their children (Graham in 1.07; Danny, Meca, and most strikingly, Sang Jin (I have no idea how to write his name, pls. correct me!) here in 1.08). But rather than feeling that this was cheesy or cheap (though of course it is an easy way to humanize characters), I was totally touched by the depth of feeling involved. I particularly liked the way the show never questioned the adoptive relationship between Graham and his daughter in 1.07, and unapologetically presented it as much more “real” than her biological relationship with her birth father. And I liked the continuity of bringing back Sang Jin’s wife and daughter (the wife, if I’m remembering correctly, is Rwandan, another interesting detail). Clearly, one of the themes of the show is found family, but I also liked the way in the latter instance (b/w Danny and Sang Jin) an empathy between parents cut across all kinds of other differences.
This was also the second episode in a row to focus on how “knowing” someone is more important than any empirical evidence about them, this time with Danny and Steve’s roles reversed. Granted, this isn’t a particularly original theme, though it’s a good one. But the actors all really sold it, didn’t they? And not just in a biblical knowledge kind of way. And l liked the way that neither case was about blind loyalty, but, again, about empathy (Steve “knows” what it means to be a soldier/SEAL; Danny “knows” that Meca would never leave his wife and child, in part because he feels that way about his own child—if not his wife ;)).
And even though I enjoyed all the Steve/Danny yelling and bickering and flirting and heart-struck looks as much as usual, the scenes I liked best in 1.08 (and I’ve watched it twice, since I convinced J. to watch it with me again, since we were stuck at home, and he was clinging to me like a sad little sick barnacle anyway) were the ones between Danny and Sang Jin, especially the one in prison. The quiet intensity of their negotiation was all kinds of wonderful, especially after Danny had been doing so much shouting. Y’all know I have a thing for voices, and I adored Danny’s gravely, my-gentleness-is-just-the-external-sign-of-my-fierceness thing.
Other things I liked:
*The reveal that Chin is an art connoisseur! The possibility of an H50/White Collar x-over lives!
*The little “I can’t believe mom and dad are fighting in public again, it’s so embarrassing” looks Kono and Chin exchanged in that scene in the briefing room.
*The return of the dynamic, in the scene outside the prison, in which Danny yells at Steve, Steve realizes the error of his ways mid-rant, apologizes--because he’s a straight-up kind of guy that way, and Danny is caught spinning his wheels in mid-air, like Wily E. Coyote, because he’s not used to people actually ignoring the rant and getting the point. Steve doesn’t give in—he just realizes he’s wrong, apologizes because that’s the right thing to do, and, as he says, “moves on.” It’s a lovely character point for both guys.
And that’s all without even talking about the slashy bits! But given what I said above, I expect you can imagine how much I loved Steve’s “I know you” at the end.