Change Your Image
ukyoga
Reviews
Royal Hearts (2018)
So bad as to be unwatchable
I have ploughed through countless Hallmark movies, I like the format and can tolerate the lower production values, repetition of themes and sheer cheesy unlikeliness of the uber romancing that typically goes on.
The ludicrous storyline was fine by me - good ol' romantic escapism with a royal theme that Hallmark are peddling hard this year - in connection to the British Royal Wedding maybe?
However I gave up after two attempts to watch, for me it IS that bad! The father character is unredeemingly curmudgeonly and I found him one-dimensional and flat. Just unlikeable. The romantic interest was good looking but a terrible actor; I think this might have been the true problem. If we'd had an Andrew Walker or Troy Donovan it might have been saved. The main character was plucky, charismatic and very watchable and a shame she was left to carry this mess.
A missed opportunity by Hallmark unfortunately.
Cougar Town: Something Big (2012)
A gem of an episode, more please!
I am in a committed relationship with Cougar Town, for better or for worse. Over the years have endured some fairly naff fodder, testing my loyalty and endurance.
Occasionally I am repaid with a gem of an episode.such as this. Which I just watched a second time as episode seven, due to be aired this week, did not materialise.
Jules and Grayson (who seems to have had his name irrevocably corrupted to Graymond), both get what they want in a script manoeuvre that is a little easy and obvious, but I guess we all want to believe it. Reforming playboy is presented with illegitimately fathered child.
I love that the child is named called Tampa and that she is a cute toddler. Maybe the cheek glitter was a touch too much, indicating white trashiness to follow, underlined by the fact that Laurie is already the child's godmother.
Jules reacted to the revelation with foreseeable narcissistic rage, but got over herself pretty quickly. Jules' character, is after all, a sketch of a post-modern matriarch, and she likes to see herself as a loveably flawed super-mom and super-friend.
I wonder whether the writers might have gone further still. In his early-mid forties, Grayson is old enough to have fathered an adult daughter with a child, or better still, a playboy son in his own image with a child, this would have been karmically neat, transformed Jules overnight into a grandmother and yielded two fresh characters.
One of the reasons I rate this as a stand out episode is that the main narrative was enriched by some satisfying subplots, with good action outside of the cul-de-sac. Travis and his frat bros dancing and chanting, coached by Laurie, as colourful and effervescent as ever, in a particularly fab green denim and flouncy top combo. I live for her outfits! I love her hair! And I find her relationship with Travis very watchable and heart warming.
Similarly, Bobby teaches Ellie to surf and we get to see more of his new girlfriend, although she is still very much a minor character at this point, waiting in the wings. And we are introduced to yet another quirky therapist, who is insightful but maybe also a little crazy, I hope we see more of her.
I have a minor quibble with regard to the ladies' hairstyles; it struck me that the female characters (Jules, Ellie, Laurie, Angie, Tampa's birth mother and therapist) are all wearing their hair the same; centre part with loose flowing waves. I'd like to see some variety, of course Laurie came good with an awesome pony tail and swept fringe in one of her scenes.
So while the quality of this show is variable, I am sticking by Cougar Town, hoping that there is more good stuff to come....