Oh, wouldn't it be great if I *was* crazy? Then the world would be okay.

[sarea]

You guys, I am obsessed with a new show. I'm almost afraid to talk about it because I haven't finished what's aired and I'm afraid of being spoiled, but I'M GOING TO TRUST YOU GUYS.

Before I left for my LA vacation, I had finished Orphan Black S2, but I hadn't written about it yet. It seems like eons ago now.

While in LA, adelagia and I ate all the things and did all the things (except go to the Griffith Observatory), and she is working up a detailed post that I'll probably just re-post when it's ready, like I did last time. Though she can't post until I have the photos ready, and I don't have the photos ready because I AM OBSESSED WITH A NEW SHOW.

And thus we have come full circle.

See, after adelagia left LA, I stayed on a week to see family and spend more time with jade_okelani and ropo. One of the things Jade and I decided we would do during that time was to watch TV pilots of shows which we were either interested in the show, or thought the other would be interested in the show. (We often use TV we like to watch as a way to force us into doing writing sessions.)

We started with Gravity Falls, which I knew would be an easy slam dunk, because it's a cute show and requires little commitment.

Then we tried Stranger Things. Hooboy. One of the things we said when we came up with the list was that if we really got into a show, we'd binge watch it in person and that was OK. Well, we were TOTALLY into Stranger Things. We loved it. And had we not binge watched it first, that would probably be the show I'd be obsessed with right now. But we finished S1, and had various discussions, so I don't feel this super urgency about it.

We watched the pilot ep of Broad City, which was funny and I enjoyed.

We started the pilot of Jessica Jones, but something wonky happened with the tech, and then we had to go to lunch or something, I can't remember what stopped us, but we only saw like 10 minutes of it and then we stopped. It wasn't because it wasn't good -- we didn't see enough to make that determination -- but we didn't go back to it for some reason.

The Man in the High Castle was a pilot I had seen awhile back, but could barely remember any of it. It has the coolest premise though, and both Jade and I were really excited about it. However, I re-realized why I saw the pilot however long ago and never saw another ep. It wasn't bad, but it's a really slow pilot and there are a lot of questions raised but not answered, the characters aren't immediately likeable or relatable, etc.

We ended up watching a few episodes of Fear the Walking Dead S2, which was kind of a cheat because we knew we'd probably like it, since we both liked the first season very much. I think we watched maybe the first 3 episodes, and while it's still good and fine, we didn't really get to a point where we felt like not going on would be like not breathing.

Another pilot we watched was for Colony. It wasn't on either of our lists, but while at Universal Studios on the tram ride, the tram ride tour guide mentioned it, and mentioned the fact that Josh Holloway is in it, which immediately perked our interest. It was... OK. JH just seems like Sawyer to me, but not playing Sawyer. Sarah Wayne Callies is also in it, but she has a 50/50 track record for me. Loved her as Sara Tancredi in Prison Break; hated her as Lori Grimes on The Walking Dead. The pilot wasn't all that great... they don't give you much to work with, withholding information about the characters and their motives that wasn't saved by superb writing or storytelling.

Then we watched the 12 Monkeys pilot, and it was all over.

I don't remember now whether it was on Jade's list, but it was on my list because it's one of my favorite movies, and some stuff I'd seen on Tumblr made me feel like maybe they weren't doing too bad a job with the TV adaptation. Well, they have done an excellent job with it. They're not following the movie completely -- it's a reboot, but it's almost certain that they're going to change details from the movie -- but it's its own thing, and it's wonderful.

I love both the leads very much. It's a little surprising re the male lead, Aaron Stanford, because he is not traditional leading man material. In fact, when he first appeared on screen, I was skeptical that he was the lead. Of course, they were right to entrust him with the role, and I totally love him as James Cole now. He's good looking, but not in a traditional Hollywood way, and I really admire that they went against that type when casting him. Amanda Schull is traditionally beautiful, but she's also extremely likeable. I hate her! ;) She looks like a cross between Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts; in some scenes she looks so much like Naomi it's weird that it's not her. They have great chemistry, which is good because it's THE MOST ROMANTIC SHOW EVER even though they're not a couple (yet). The pilot, unlike most of the other pilots, immediately sucked us in, and the show just CONTINUED TO SUCK US IN. The characters, the story, the relationships between the characters, all of it is so well done. And oh god, how I love Cole and Cassie. I NEED THEM TO BE TOGETHER. But they're not together, which I know is the hallmark of a good show, because it always gives me what I need and not what I want (all the time). And yet I can see that they know what they're doing, so I'm content to sit back and let them do it.

It's not a perfect show... it can't be, because it's about time travel, and time travel is inherently contradictory and confusing. But that said, they're doing a pretty admirable job of keeping things as sensical as they can be, and if sometimes it doesn't make sense, I can forgive them because they have built up enough credibility, and I'm willing to cut them a little slack. (One thing I will call them on... changing her name from Kathryn to Cassandra. A little too on the nose, show people.)

We finished the first season yesterday and are a few episodes into season 2; that's all there is so far, so I'm totally dreading the end of s2 because then there will only be gifs and fanfic to tide me over until s3. I am DYING to read fanfic, but I'm forcing myself to have self control, because it will do nothing but spoil me. :(

The tl;dr version of this is WATCH 12 MONKEYS.

Subject line quote: Cole to Kathryn in the 12 Monkeys movie.