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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of Doctor Who, and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.
BoJack Horseman "See Mr. Peanutbutter Run"
Andre Braugher was a great casting choice as Governor Woodchuck.
Not much else to say about this episode. ***1/2.
BoJack Horseman "The Old Sugarman Place"
This is a very good show when dealing with broken people. It is its best asset.
I love Diane making fun of the guys coming up with "Girls" from a male perspective. BoJack's all, "Wow, and they were saying this idea in a coffee shop out in the open?" Sometimes I don't think creating a TV show is as hard of a deal as writers like to pretend it is.
That lobotomy was brutal. It doesn't excuse Beatrice's behavior but it explains it.
Interesting that BoJack and the neighbor didn't have a satisfying wrap-up and left things off on a bad place. That is very consistent with the type of person BoJack is.
When the people on this show are broken, that fixes whatever's wrong with the show. ****.
BoJack Horseman "Hooray! Todd Episode!"
The first episode of the series sort of has BoJack claim that Todd is a taker, but this episode shows the reality that Todd is nothing but a selfless giver.
I especially liked the way he helped Diane. She reasons his voice doesn't sound like Channing Tatum, but it's what she'd like him to say to her, so she accepts it.
I liked Princess Carolyn's Courtney Portnoy wordplay too. The show is great about stuff like that.
I liked the episode ending with Todd at an asexual support group and his lion friend impressed that he finally missed the triangle.
There aren't a ton of BoJack Horseman episodes I'd deem "nice". That was one of them. It's no surprise it's a Todd spotlight. ****.
BoJack Horseman "Commence Fracking"
That was a really nasty and unpleasant sex scene at the end. It had a violent context I am not on-board with.
From the record, I'm on Diane's side in that fight. Especially upon the revelation that Katrina seems to be using the campaign merely to destroy their marriage.
I love Primcess Carolyn and Ralph in the back of the police car. You'd better do what Harvey Fierstein says.
I love the gross sandwich photo of Diane too. I particularly like how she somehow has sauce on her forehead.
Speaking of nasty, the quip BoJack made about wanting all of his potential kids to be aborted sounded funny and shocking when he said it. Until you see Hollyhock's reaction and see how much it hurt her. The selling point of this show to me is that is has all of the horrible shock humor South Park and Family Guy do, but it shows consequences and actual hurt feelings to the nasty statements. You initially laugh at it, and then the show lectures you on why you shouldn't. That is a very positive quality for any adult animated series, especially one that is billed as a comedy on the surface.
I didn't like the last scene, but the rest of the episode was strong. ***1/2.
BoJack Horseman "Thoughts And Prayers"
Diane: "I can't believe this country hates women more than it loves guns."
Princess Carolyn: "No?"
I feel the gun stuff went a bit sideways. Why? Because for the life of me I couldn't tell the stand the show was taking. And it's not because it was exploring all sides of the issue. It was that the stands it had the characters take were ridiculous.
It started off well enough with the idea that Hollywood studios do nothing but create movies that feed into violence and gun culture, and how ridiculous it is that we are supposed to feel sympathy for movie studios when a mass shooting happens, and a movie or TV show has to be postponed. Maybe, just MAYBE these mass shootings wouldn't be the problem they are if TV and movies stopped normalizing guns, murder, and violence. Maybe I should stop feeling bad for directors on behalf of their "art", and question the worthiness of the art itself. Good first take by the show.
And then they do the harrowing scene of the valet creepily hitting on Diane in an outright racist manner, threatening to hurt her, and then Courtney pulling a gun on him. I love the show exploring the fact that women have to always be on their guard out in public because men can't behave themselves. That's also an interesting message.
But the whole thing devolves into a woman mass shooter and gun control legislation from that, and it's just ridiculous. The show is usually better at that in its politics.
Take the MSNBSea ticker. They did not need to mention Trump ONCE by name, but you get exactly who the ball and cup runner is actually making fun of. Pretty good joke at the expense of a cretin who usually breaks all forms of legit satire.
The thing in the episode I really responded to was BoJack and Hollyhock dealing with Beatrice's senility. When she starts freaking out at the "live performance" I felt genuine sympathy for her for the first time ever, and really felt and understood how frightened she seemed by that.
I also love Hollyhock comforting BoJack by telling him she's sure his mother will have a good enough day in the future where he can fully tell her how much she sucks. It's like we know BoJack is talking about the exact opposite thing than that, but Hollyhock is able to relate to his regret by going with the ridiculous notion instead. And I like that. Very much.
The stuff in the nursing home was great. The topical stuff about mass shootings was unfortunately all over the map. ***.
BoJack Horseman "Stupid Piece Of Sh*t"
Hearing BoJack's inner monologue is not surprising, but it explains a lot. It also says he's nuts, which doesn't help things at all.
It's weird feeling sympathy for Beatrice for BoJack's abuse. Before this arc she was the bad guy in their relationship. But the doll makes her seem especially helpless and BoJack especially cruel.
Felicity Huffman, huh? Enjoy this acting gig, Felicity. That woman is so despised now she'll never be cast in anything again. That whole fake college scandal thing with her and Lori Loughlin amazes me because both of those actresses became as toxic as any actor taken down by the MeToo movement. And it happened so recently that I forgot how often Huffman used to work until then.
Interesting episode, but it doesn't make BoJack any easier to like. ***1/2.
BoJack Horseman "Underground"
I love Jessica Biel being called a future hard Jeopardy question. It's pretty fearless she played herself in an episode with that line directed at her.
Honestly, I was furious with Mr. Peanutbutter on every level at every step of the game. The problem with the episode is that it's trying to do a moral against Trump about not electing incompetent people who do not know what they are doing as leaders, but in order to do that, they had to make Mr. Peanutbutter far more despicable than he actually is. Trump only has the power to wreck Mr. Peanutbutter if the shows lets him have that power. That strikes me as a weird thing to hand Trump.
Wow, that last paragraph was strange. ***.
BoJack Horseman "The Judge"
The Felicity Huffman stuff still makes me cringe.
The massage stuff with Diane was unbelievably sexy.
Ralph's family sucks.
I love Diane calling Katrina Cruella.
A good episode. ***1/2.
BoJack Horseman "Ruthie"
A lot of tragic things happened in the episode but the worst is the revelation that Ruthie is fake. She was our escape hatch from how horrible things were going, and it turns out we never had it. What a bleak ending to a high-concept that isn't actually a high-concept at all.
I love the idea of "I wonder what species it is". The show doesn't necessarily follow Muppet rules for breeding, but it does say that it is entirely possible to be an completely different species than one of your parents.
That doctor was working my last nerve. He sucks at life.
The file photo of Diane being the gross sandwich photo would have been funnier if Ruthie was real.
Poor Princess Carolyn. ****.
BoJack Horseman "Lovin' That Cali Lifestyle!!"
Man, I don't care if she doesn't actually know what she's doing, I hate Beatrice for the same reason BoJack does. She sucks.
That episode seemed to fly by. I can't tell if that's good or bad. But it was interesting. ****.
BoJack Horseman "Time's Arrow"
Okay, I am about to say a great many complimentary things, and then a complaint that will anger fans of this show. I'll save the complaint for last, not because it's larger than the good things in the episode, but because it colors how I see the episode.
The episode had great drama, and acting, and explained a lot about Beatrice's character, and even revealed Hollyhock's actual parentage. Beatrice is a real person for once, and as despicable as she is, you see why she became that way. The scene of her father burning her doll says everything about the season and the trauma unthinkingly inflicted on her by BoJack in an earlier episode.
And the ending of BoJack essentially comforting her was a rare moment of growth for a character who is famous for his aversion to growth. I liked BoJack for once, although I know it won't last.
I like the people in the memory having no faces. That's not just a senility thing. That's how most of my memory works too.
Now here is my complaint. Every hardcore fan of the show, feel free to cr*p on me forever and say "I'm a stupid piece of sh*t". I'll understand. My problem:
They're horses.
It's ludicrous the shows thinks the drama will land as hard as it should as long as the characters look that ridiculous and silly. For some reason whenever BoJack is interacting with Diane and Todd, I buy it, and I even bought the stuff with Charlotte a couple of seasons ago. But this is a Tennessee Williams-style tragedy done with cartoon horses. It's too much to ask me to swallow.
I got into an online argument a few years ago about the movie Cars. My perspective is it's dumb because I can't take any of the usual character drama Pixar attaches to their movies seriously with a film with that premise. And the guy said mockingly, "So talking cartoon fish are okay, but talking cartoon cars are over-the-line?"
Yes! Exactly! That IS the line! I WILL accept talking fish in the way I will not accept talking cars. And yet I would not accept talking fish using this exact script. This is where the human characters come in handy. While it's just horses, I can't take it as seriously as I want to. I would consider this a five star, perfect episode of any other series. While it's horses, I can't give it that grade. The acting is amazing, the story and dialogue are phenomenal, but while they are horses, those things are not enough.
I get why so many people love this show. But I don't think I will ever love this show as much as I want to, and it probably deserves to be loved. It IS phenomenal. But I didn't buy it for this episode at least.
The good news (I think) is that this is the first episode I actually felt that way about, and I have accepted all of the other stuff. The thing that concerns me is that outside of the Charlotte stuff in season two, this is the most dramatic the show has ever been, and it didn't land for me. That worries me for the future, even if this is the first time I felt that way.
Full disclosure. I have compared this show to my comic book Gilda And Meek many times. And to be blunt, and completely honest, this show is much better than my comic qualitywise. The dialogue and drama are far more realistic, and deal with more relatable problems than the fantastical elements my characters go through. But one thing my comic has going for it that this show does not is that although many of my characters are talking animals, none of their designs are as intentionally ridiculous as the characters on this show, and none of the drama is at this specific level of pathos, so I at least, biased as I may be, think the drama is far easier to take seriously. BoJack Horseman is superior to Gilda And Meek in almost every respect. Except for the character designs and asking the viewer to take the drama seriously while they are what they are.
I would love to give something that otherwise amazing five stars. But I cannot. Not this time at least. Because they are horses. ****.
BoJack Horseman "What Time Is It Right Now"
However, I totally bought "I never had a brother." That specific dramatic point landed fine, which was a relief.
I think Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane are a bad match because she indulges him too much. She accepts too much nonsense. Do you know why? Because he means well. Because he's trying. But at some point Diane has to stop doing what is best for Mr. Peanutbutter's side of the marriage, and start worrying what's best for herself. He is SUCH a trial. But he means well. Which means Diane forgives far more than she should.
I liked that finale very much. ****1/2.
Doctor Who "Can You Hear Me?"
It's been awhile since we've had a good old-fashioned teaser.
I don't know much about the Celestial Toymaker but I assume he had something to do with the villains. I imagine hardcore Whobies were thrilled.
I felt the epilogue ran too long.
The detaching fingers were a great and creepy nightmare element.
I liked part of the concept, but I don't feel the episode ended strongly. **1/2.
Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure "A Tale Of Two Sisters"
First let me compliment the episode for bothering to get back Donna Murphy for Mother Gothel. Most Disney projects wouldn't care enough to do that. They wouldn't even get a soundalike, they'd just settle for someone affordable and ask us to accept it. I will not dismiss the episode bringing Murphy back.
Unfortunately, the betrayal keeps living down to my worst expectations. And I hate being right. But every false step the series makes, I predicted correctly.
Here is how you know the betrayal plot is utterly forced: The missing mirror. It's TOO perfect of a wedge for Rapunzel and Cass. In fact, what bothers me is how omniscient and all-powerful Zanh Tiri seems for finding it, removing the damning piece, and foisting it on Rapunzel when she did. If she's SO powerful she knows exactly how to manipulate a fluid situation that perfectly, why does she even need Cassandra? Basically the series is asking me to be impressed with Gul Dukat being manipulated by freaking Q. I mean, yeah, it could happen, and that would be a genuine threat to Sisko and Picard, but why the frak would Q even bother? It seems this kind of petty stuff should be beneath Zahn Tiri. If she is this omnipotent, why does she even NEED to fracture the Gothel sisters? The answer is she doesn't, therefore the conflict is forced, therefore the arc of the season was never going to work.
I was not satisfied with that. And I'm upset that the producers think I should be. What's most annoying to me is that the missing shard proves Mother Gothel never loved Cass. Why does that need to be the moral for the season to work? Does Rapunzel trying to reform Cass need to come from an entirely perfect, altruistic place? Is there no room for nuance in Rapunzel's view of Mother Gothel? It's cartoon villain stuff, and I liked the show before it was cartoon villain stuff. The show is still psychologically complex to a degree, but it is now less so, and in a far less believable manner.
I don't even know why I'm complaining. It's just a dumb, Disney kids cartoon, right? It's just, that's not how I viewed it, at least until very recently. The show used to be so much more than that, until it fell into every single trap I knew it would fall into once it destroyed Rapunzel and Cassandra's important friendship. I hate being right about this, and wanted desperately to be wrong. But everything is playing out just as forced and unbelievably as I knew it would. I don't know everything about television. But I'm pretty good at pegging when a show jumps the shark. And the show jumped exactly when I said it did. **.
BoJack Horseman "See Mr. Peanutbutter Run"
Andre Braugher was a great casting choice as Governor Woodchuck.
Not much else to say about this episode. ***1/2.
BoJack Horseman "The Old Sugarman Place"
This is a very good show when dealing with broken people. It is its best asset.
I love Diane making fun of the guys coming up with "Girls" from a male perspective. BoJack's all, "Wow, and they were saying this idea in a coffee shop out in the open?" Sometimes I don't think creating a TV show is as hard of a deal as writers like to pretend it is.
That lobotomy was brutal. It doesn't excuse Beatrice's behavior but it explains it.
Interesting that BoJack and the neighbor didn't have a satisfying wrap-up and left things off on a bad place. That is very consistent with the type of person BoJack is.
When the people on this show are broken, that fixes whatever's wrong with the show. ****.
BoJack Horseman "Hooray! Todd Episode!"
The first episode of the series sort of has BoJack claim that Todd is a taker, but this episode shows the reality that Todd is nothing but a selfless giver.
I especially liked the way he helped Diane. She reasons his voice doesn't sound like Channing Tatum, but it's what she'd like him to say to her, so she accepts it.
I liked Princess Carolyn's Courtney Portnoy wordplay too. The show is great about stuff like that.
I liked the episode ending with Todd at an asexual support group and his lion friend impressed that he finally missed the triangle.
There aren't a ton of BoJack Horseman episodes I'd deem "nice". That was one of them. It's no surprise it's a Todd spotlight. ****.
BoJack Horseman "Commence Fracking"
That was a really nasty and unpleasant sex scene at the end. It had a violent context I am not on-board with.
From the record, I'm on Diane's side in that fight. Especially upon the revelation that Katrina seems to be using the campaign merely to destroy their marriage.
I love Primcess Carolyn and Ralph in the back of the police car. You'd better do what Harvey Fierstein says.
I love the gross sandwich photo of Diane too. I particularly like how she somehow has sauce on her forehead.
Speaking of nasty, the quip BoJack made about wanting all of his potential kids to be aborted sounded funny and shocking when he said it. Until you see Hollyhock's reaction and see how much it hurt her. The selling point of this show to me is that is has all of the horrible shock humor South Park and Family Guy do, but it shows consequences and actual hurt feelings to the nasty statements. You initially laugh at it, and then the show lectures you on why you shouldn't. That is a very positive quality for any adult animated series, especially one that is billed as a comedy on the surface.
I didn't like the last scene, but the rest of the episode was strong. ***1/2.
BoJack Horseman "Thoughts And Prayers"
Diane: "I can't believe this country hates women more than it loves guns."
Princess Carolyn: "No?"
I feel the gun stuff went a bit sideways. Why? Because for the life of me I couldn't tell the stand the show was taking. And it's not because it was exploring all sides of the issue. It was that the stands it had the characters take were ridiculous.
It started off well enough with the idea that Hollywood studios do nothing but create movies that feed into violence and gun culture, and how ridiculous it is that we are supposed to feel sympathy for movie studios when a mass shooting happens, and a movie or TV show has to be postponed. Maybe, just MAYBE these mass shootings wouldn't be the problem they are if TV and movies stopped normalizing guns, murder, and violence. Maybe I should stop feeling bad for directors on behalf of their "art", and question the worthiness of the art itself. Good first take by the show.
And then they do the harrowing scene of the valet creepily hitting on Diane in an outright racist manner, threatening to hurt her, and then Courtney pulling a gun on him. I love the show exploring the fact that women have to always be on their guard out in public because men can't behave themselves. That's also an interesting message.
But the whole thing devolves into a woman mass shooter and gun control legislation from that, and it's just ridiculous. The show is usually better at that in its politics.
Take the MSNBSea ticker. They did not need to mention Trump ONCE by name, but you get exactly who the ball and cup runner is actually making fun of. Pretty good joke at the expense of a cretin who usually breaks all forms of legit satire.
The thing in the episode I really responded to was BoJack and Hollyhock dealing with Beatrice's senility. When she starts freaking out at the "live performance" I felt genuine sympathy for her for the first time ever, and really felt and understood how frightened she seemed by that.
I also love Hollyhock comforting BoJack by telling him she's sure his mother will have a good enough day in the future where he can fully tell her how much she sucks. It's like we know BoJack is talking about the exact opposite thing than that, but Hollyhock is able to relate to his regret by going with the ridiculous notion instead. And I like that. Very much.
The stuff in the nursing home was great. The topical stuff about mass shootings was unfortunately all over the map. ***.
BoJack Horseman "Stupid Piece Of Sh*t"
Hearing BoJack's inner monologue is not surprising, but it explains a lot. It also says he's nuts, which doesn't help things at all.
It's weird feeling sympathy for Beatrice for BoJack's abuse. Before this arc she was the bad guy in their relationship. But the doll makes her seem especially helpless and BoJack especially cruel.
Felicity Huffman, huh? Enjoy this acting gig, Felicity. That woman is so despised now she'll never be cast in anything again. That whole fake college scandal thing with her and Lori Loughlin amazes me because both of those actresses became as toxic as any actor taken down by the MeToo movement. And it happened so recently that I forgot how often Huffman used to work until then.
Interesting episode, but it doesn't make BoJack any easier to like. ***1/2.
BoJack Horseman "Underground"
I love Jessica Biel being called a future hard Jeopardy question. It's pretty fearless she played herself in an episode with that line directed at her.
Honestly, I was furious with Mr. Peanutbutter on every level at every step of the game. The problem with the episode is that it's trying to do a moral against Trump about not electing incompetent people who do not know what they are doing as leaders, but in order to do that, they had to make Mr. Peanutbutter far more despicable than he actually is. Trump only has the power to wreck Mr. Peanutbutter if the shows lets him have that power. That strikes me as a weird thing to hand Trump.
Wow, that last paragraph was strange. ***.
BoJack Horseman "The Judge"
The Felicity Huffman stuff still makes me cringe.
The massage stuff with Diane was unbelievably sexy.
Ralph's family sucks.
I love Diane calling Katrina Cruella.
A good episode. ***1/2.
BoJack Horseman "Ruthie"
A lot of tragic things happened in the episode but the worst is the revelation that Ruthie is fake. She was our escape hatch from how horrible things were going, and it turns out we never had it. What a bleak ending to a high-concept that isn't actually a high-concept at all.
I love the idea of "I wonder what species it is". The show doesn't necessarily follow Muppet rules for breeding, but it does say that it is entirely possible to be an completely different species than one of your parents.
That doctor was working my last nerve. He sucks at life.
The file photo of Diane being the gross sandwich photo would have been funnier if Ruthie was real.
Poor Princess Carolyn. ****.
BoJack Horseman "Lovin' That Cali Lifestyle!!"
Man, I don't care if she doesn't actually know what she's doing, I hate Beatrice for the same reason BoJack does. She sucks.
That episode seemed to fly by. I can't tell if that's good or bad. But it was interesting. ****.
BoJack Horseman "Time's Arrow"
Okay, I am about to say a great many complimentary things, and then a complaint that will anger fans of this show. I'll save the complaint for last, not because it's larger than the good things in the episode, but because it colors how I see the episode.
The episode had great drama, and acting, and explained a lot about Beatrice's character, and even revealed Hollyhock's actual parentage. Beatrice is a real person for once, and as despicable as she is, you see why she became that way. The scene of her father burning her doll says everything about the season and the trauma unthinkingly inflicted on her by BoJack in an earlier episode.
And the ending of BoJack essentially comforting her was a rare moment of growth for a character who is famous for his aversion to growth. I liked BoJack for once, although I know it won't last.
I like the people in the memory having no faces. That's not just a senility thing. That's how most of my memory works too.
Now here is my complaint. Every hardcore fan of the show, feel free to cr*p on me forever and say "I'm a stupid piece of sh*t". I'll understand. My problem:
They're horses.
It's ludicrous the shows thinks the drama will land as hard as it should as long as the characters look that ridiculous and silly. For some reason whenever BoJack is interacting with Diane and Todd, I buy it, and I even bought the stuff with Charlotte a couple of seasons ago. But this is a Tennessee Williams-style tragedy done with cartoon horses. It's too much to ask me to swallow.
I got into an online argument a few years ago about the movie Cars. My perspective is it's dumb because I can't take any of the usual character drama Pixar attaches to their movies seriously with a film with that premise. And the guy said mockingly, "So talking cartoon fish are okay, but talking cartoon cars are over-the-line?"
Yes! Exactly! That IS the line! I WILL accept talking fish in the way I will not accept talking cars. And yet I would not accept talking fish using this exact script. This is where the human characters come in handy. While it's just horses, I can't take it as seriously as I want to. I would consider this a five star, perfect episode of any other series. While it's horses, I can't give it that grade. The acting is amazing, the story and dialogue are phenomenal, but while they are horses, those things are not enough.
I get why so many people love this show. But I don't think I will ever love this show as much as I want to, and it probably deserves to be loved. It IS phenomenal. But I didn't buy it for this episode at least.
The good news (I think) is that this is the first episode I actually felt that way about, and I have accepted all of the other stuff. The thing that concerns me is that outside of the Charlotte stuff in season two, this is the most dramatic the show has ever been, and it didn't land for me. That worries me for the future, even if this is the first time I felt that way.
Full disclosure. I have compared this show to my comic book Gilda And Meek many times. And to be blunt, and completely honest, this show is much better than my comic qualitywise. The dialogue and drama are far more realistic, and deal with more relatable problems than the fantastical elements my characters go through. But one thing my comic has going for it that this show does not is that although many of my characters are talking animals, none of their designs are as intentionally ridiculous as the characters on this show, and none of the drama is at this specific level of pathos, so I at least, biased as I may be, think the drama is far easier to take seriously. BoJack Horseman is superior to Gilda And Meek in almost every respect. Except for the character designs and asking the viewer to take the drama seriously while they are what they are.
I would love to give something that otherwise amazing five stars. But I cannot. Not this time at least. Because they are horses. ****.
BoJack Horseman "What Time Is It Right Now"
However, I totally bought "I never had a brother." That specific dramatic point landed fine, which was a relief.
I think Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane are a bad match because she indulges him too much. She accepts too much nonsense. Do you know why? Because he means well. Because he's trying. But at some point Diane has to stop doing what is best for Mr. Peanutbutter's side of the marriage, and start worrying what's best for herself. He is SUCH a trial. But he means well. Which means Diane forgives far more than she should.
I liked that finale very much. ****1/2.
Doctor Who "Can You Hear Me?"
It's been awhile since we've had a good old-fashioned teaser.
I don't know much about the Celestial Toymaker but I assume he had something to do with the villains. I imagine hardcore Whobies were thrilled.
I felt the epilogue ran too long.
The detaching fingers were a great and creepy nightmare element.
I liked part of the concept, but I don't feel the episode ended strongly. **1/2.
Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure "A Tale Of Two Sisters"
First let me compliment the episode for bothering to get back Donna Murphy for Mother Gothel. Most Disney projects wouldn't care enough to do that. They wouldn't even get a soundalike, they'd just settle for someone affordable and ask us to accept it. I will not dismiss the episode bringing Murphy back.
Unfortunately, the betrayal keeps living down to my worst expectations. And I hate being right. But every false step the series makes, I predicted correctly.
Here is how you know the betrayal plot is utterly forced: The missing mirror. It's TOO perfect of a wedge for Rapunzel and Cass. In fact, what bothers me is how omniscient and all-powerful Zanh Tiri seems for finding it, removing the damning piece, and foisting it on Rapunzel when she did. If she's SO powerful she knows exactly how to manipulate a fluid situation that perfectly, why does she even need Cassandra? Basically the series is asking me to be impressed with Gul Dukat being manipulated by freaking Q. I mean, yeah, it could happen, and that would be a genuine threat to Sisko and Picard, but why the frak would Q even bother? It seems this kind of petty stuff should be beneath Zahn Tiri. If she is this omnipotent, why does she even NEED to fracture the Gothel sisters? The answer is she doesn't, therefore the conflict is forced, therefore the arc of the season was never going to work.
I was not satisfied with that. And I'm upset that the producers think I should be. What's most annoying to me is that the missing shard proves Mother Gothel never loved Cass. Why does that need to be the moral for the season to work? Does Rapunzel trying to reform Cass need to come from an entirely perfect, altruistic place? Is there no room for nuance in Rapunzel's view of Mother Gothel? It's cartoon villain stuff, and I liked the show before it was cartoon villain stuff. The show is still psychologically complex to a degree, but it is now less so, and in a far less believable manner.
I don't even know why I'm complaining. It's just a dumb, Disney kids cartoon, right? It's just, that's not how I viewed it, at least until very recently. The show used to be so much more than that, until it fell into every single trap I knew it would fall into once it destroyed Rapunzel and Cassandra's important friendship. I hate being right about this, and wanted desperately to be wrong. But everything is playing out just as forced and unbelievably as I knew it would. I don't know everything about television. But I'm pretty good at pegging when a show jumps the shark. And the show jumped exactly when I said it did. **.
