What was that finale
Nov. 29th, 2013 08:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chocolatepotI actually really liked it, though. Richard's killed way too many people to earn a living redemption; the show actually has a far more black-and-white morality than the audience gives it credit for. People love that it gives us characters who do all sorts of bad things and are yet sympathetic, but it's very much against giving murderers happy endings, even if they're damaged people you feel sorry for. "Imagining you're standing with your family and your face is intact while you're actually dying in the sunset" is the nicest possible way it will end.
I did hate that Maybelle died, though. She didn't come onscreen very much, but Chalky's family has always been way in the background of the show and it was great to see her take more prominence - and the idea that she wanted to be more involved in the criminal life was an interesting one that kind of got sidelined. I'm still annoyed that someone half-jokingly said in the comments at the AV Club that it was tragic that she died before she had a nude scene.
So glad that Margaret will have a larger role next season. I absolutely don't think it's a coincidence that this one was pretty slow and also hardly had her in it, as much as her detractors are seriously bewailing the fact that she's coming back. I have to admit that I kind of still ship her with Nucky, mainly because she's one of the few people left that are close to him in some way, maybe the only one: Eli's betrayal plus geographical distance, Gillian's imprisonment - even though Margaret betrayed him, she left on her own terms and has kept the distance not out of necessity or because Nucky's angry at her, but because she wants it there. I need to rewatch the season, but I sort of feel like he regrets a lot of what happened in their relationship, especially on his part. Whereas his regrets with other characters, apart from maybe Jimmy, tend to be regret at what they've done to him that made it so he can't trust them, whereas Margaret he'd take back in a heartbeat. She anchors him in a way that other girlfriends can't; as much as being with Sally might have given him something he needed emotionally then, he seems sadder at not going to Cuba than at not being with her anymore.
Looking forward almost as much to the Eli & Van Alden Adventures in Chicago, because you know that's going to be well worth watching. They're both good at deadpan humor.
Also, unrelated but I don't care how much of an outcast Arya was and how terrible it was for Septa Mordane to say that Sansa was being "near as bad as Arya". I have no problem with other people finding Arya more interesting and I don't dislike her as a character, but I just don't care about Arya-centric meta and ASOIAFUniversity needs to stop aggressively reposting this Arya!wife's meta at me, especially as I feel like it's full of little digs at me for not caring. THIS IDEA IS NOT NEW. I get that she felt totally alone and that her survival is magnificent, I would never say that she didn't and it wasn't, but I just am not that into that characterization. (Plus, minorly disappointing that when asked a question about how people on both sides tend to flatly characterize her as "psychopath" or "badass", the response is that people who ~hate Arya are just repeating what they hear, but everyone who trims her down to fit the "total badass" spot is coming to this conclusion separately and truly.)
I did hate that Maybelle died, though. She didn't come onscreen very much, but Chalky's family has always been way in the background of the show and it was great to see her take more prominence - and the idea that she wanted to be more involved in the criminal life was an interesting one that kind of got sidelined. I'm still annoyed that someone half-jokingly said in the comments at the AV Club that it was tragic that she died before she had a nude scene.
So glad that Margaret will have a larger role next season. I absolutely don't think it's a coincidence that this one was pretty slow and also hardly had her in it, as much as her detractors are seriously bewailing the fact that she's coming back. I have to admit that I kind of still ship her with Nucky, mainly because she's one of the few people left that are close to him in some way, maybe the only one: Eli's betrayal plus geographical distance, Gillian's imprisonment - even though Margaret betrayed him, she left on her own terms and has kept the distance not out of necessity or because Nucky's angry at her, but because she wants it there. I need to rewatch the season, but I sort of feel like he regrets a lot of what happened in their relationship, especially on his part. Whereas his regrets with other characters, apart from maybe Jimmy, tend to be regret at what they've done to him that made it so he can't trust them, whereas Margaret he'd take back in a heartbeat. She anchors him in a way that other girlfriends can't; as much as being with Sally might have given him something he needed emotionally then, he seems sadder at not going to Cuba than at not being with her anymore.
Looking forward almost as much to the Eli & Van Alden Adventures in Chicago, because you know that's going to be well worth watching. They're both good at deadpan humor.
Also, unrelated but I don't care how much of an outcast Arya was and how terrible it was for Septa Mordane to say that Sansa was being "near as bad as Arya". I have no problem with other people finding Arya more interesting and I don't dislike her as a character, but I just don't care about Arya-centric meta and ASOIAFUniversity needs to stop aggressively reposting this Arya!wife's meta at me, especially as I feel like it's full of little digs at me for not caring. THIS IDEA IS NOT NEW. I get that she felt totally alone and that her survival is magnificent, I would never say that she didn't and it wasn't, but I just am not that into that characterization. (Plus, minorly disappointing that when asked a question about how people on both sides tend to flatly characterize her as "psychopath" or "badass", the response is that people who ~hate Arya are just repeating what they hear, but everyone who trims her down to fit the "total badass" spot is coming to this conclusion separately and truly.)
