The Sweetness of the Leaving: Six Feet Under Season Five and Thoughts on the Series

(this is my loooong overdue post on the end of Six Feet Under which I finished watching in January. As time has put distance between me and my viewing of the show, I think I appreciate it even more than I did after I first stopped watching, especially since I'm so BLAH on everything right now)

If something ends well it can change your whole perspective on that thing and that's how I feel about Six Feet Under. And I don't just mean the final few minutes that I was well and good spoiled for long before I ever started watching this show, but the entire fifth season was a fitting conclusion to this story. I think the second and fifth seasons are my favorite and it's no surprise since they are sort of mirrors to each other.

I've put off writing this because Six Feet Under isn't the kind of show you can casually watch for fun. It's a show that forces you to engage with it and its ideas which is why I had to stop watching it sometimes. Death and mortality are really heavy topics and hard to think about all the time. I also think the show has a fairly grim view on reality and life--every single main character cheats on their significant other and they all make mistakes--the sames ones again and again. In fact, once I finished watching I went looking for writing on the show and The AV Club does some recaps each summer. They are only through season two, but this stood out to me as absolutely true and why the show is so hard to watch in one fell swoop:

The show’s grimmest quality might not be the constant death but rather its frequent observation that in life, people struggle mightily to effect even the slightest change in themselves. And then they die.

I may sound a bit negative myself, but I don't mean to. Six Feet Under is a tremendous artistic and cultural achievement. But I'm also not going to pretend it's something that it's not-it IS a hard show to watch, it does not soften the harder more unpleasant edges of humanity and it deals with death in all its unpleasant reality on a very consistent basis. I also found this review that I agree with so much, that the show could tend to be overly gloomy and sometimes miss that what made it truly special were the lighter moments:

Because it was first and foremost a show about death, I think Alan Ball et al. assumed that people were tuning in because of all the darkness. But I think the true beauty of the show was its weird hopefulness in the face of all that darkness. What kept me so attached to the show were those little glimmers

Anyway a few brief thoughts on the final season.

*I like how in the first episode Brenda lost her baby and the final episode started with her giving birth. The circle of life. But just to make sure we really got it, I thought Brenda giving birth and then showing everyone's deaths in the final episode was beautiful--and not in a way that was cheesy, you know?

*I like how this season mirrored the second season in so many ways. Nate and his AVM was a big theme as well as everyone facing Nate's death. Nate escaped death in the second season only to have it take him in the final season. His feelings about death and mortality were always at the forefront of everything. Nate and Brenda trying to make their relationship work and failing again. (this time with added failed marriage!) Nate having a baby with one woman when he secretly wanted another. Nate seeking out a new kind of spirituality (still unsure of how I feel about the show's overall handling of people and communities of faith, but oh well) Claire being unsure about what she wants to do with her life. David and Keith trying to figure out how to make their relationship work...what they needed to be a family. Ruth and her failed relationships. I don't know the two seasons complete each other in a way that makes the third and fourth almost seem like filler.

*The thing I liked so much about this season, though, was that it was the final season which meant that these huge conflicts within the characters actually led to resolution. I felt kind of sad that Nate had none, that he died without ever really resolving his problems, but he died thinking he was going to be happy and also lol that's life a lot of people die in the middle. But it was pretty cool how the finale had the characters embracing new ideas of what their lives could be while also saying goodbye to the past.

*I thought the Ruth and George story line was interesting...sort of. I really had conflicted feelings about it. But I liked that they managed to stay friends. I cried when she went over to his apartment and he confronted her about knowing what was going on because it was just such...I don't know a real moment.

*Chris Messina is so cute! I thought he and Claire were really cute together, too. So I'm happy they eventually found each other again!

*I liked how David ended up embracing his birthright and modernizing the business!

General Series Thoughts

*I watched a couple of the features after I finished watching which were interesting. Apparently, while it was on, the show really brought the subject of death into the forefront of cultural conversation. (I do not remember this happening, but oh well) They had a lot of interviews with funeral directors who said the show really nailed a lot of the stuff they had to deal with as well.

*There was a also a lot of stuff about how Brenda was the first female character of her kind, just so well drawn and complicated and sexy and owning her sexuality but not in a male-gazey sort of way which I thought was interesting.

*I cried a lot when I watched this show. I think despite it's somewhat persistent gloominess, the relationships felt true to life in a way they often don't on TV. I guess a lot of soap operas have these huge dramatic plots where people do things to one another and I think, wow I could never forgive that. But on Six Feet Under, these dramatic relationship twists are either really deeply rooted in the character in an ongoing way or they do destroy their relationships. When death happens, like Nate's death, it's treated as this huge ripping apart of their lives, raw and ugly and devastating. I think due to story constraints on TV you can't always take time for that. It can end up being sanitized and sentimentalized, but they didn't do that on a show all about death. Anyway I got off track, but what I meant to say is sometimes that's all it takes for me--to feel a moment on TV like it's real life and I think this show achieved that.

*I'm definitely wearing rose colored glass writing this so much after the fact, because I remember immediately after I had more issues with their male mental illness preoccupation and problems with writing the other woman, etc. But I can't even be bothered to think about those things now.

*so many familiar faces had little roles on this show! Skylar from Breaking Bad! Bay from Switched at Birth! Ben from Parks and Rec! That evil queen on Once Upon a Time! It was fun to see them all. On the negative side I feel sort of bad for the cast--for many of them it seems this was the role of a lifetime and they haven't had much other good stuff.

*the soundtrack is kind of great? Like I'll never be able to hear "All Apologies" again without thinking of Six Feet Under and I think that's really something.

Overall I'm really glad I finally watched this show. I think it will stay with me for a long time to come. It's the kind of show that is interesting and relevant and the writing is layered and complex. This is the kind of show that gives you something to think about and talk about from many different angles and I really really like that.

Six Feet Under Season 4

I can't really decide how I feel about this show overall. I find it very compelling in that once I'm into a season, I keep watching and look forward to the end of the day when I get to watch again, but...I don't know. The show has a very dismal view on ideas of fidelity and a lot of the relationships felt really joyless to me in this season. I actually think this season had the poorest writing overall so far, in that I could spot its structure without even thinking about it and also certain things that happened were made possible in ways that didn't feel organic to who the characters are. (I'll explain what I mean in a second) I guess I felt like in some ways the show was more interested in ideas this season than character. And it makes sense, it's the fourth season of a show that is very character driven. At some point, there's less character to explore and it becomes more interesting to thrust them into situations and see what happens.

I haven't read anything about the show or listened to any of the DVD commentary or anything so I have no idea about things like how each season and storyline was received or if anything that happened was to address stuff in the real world. This show is older of course, so probably less influenced by external factors like fandom, but you never know!

Surprisingly, I actually felt like Rico's arc was the best this season, it was aces. It just made so much sense. And the way infidelity was used in his story was reasonably built up to and sprang from his character and everything we've known about Rico. Rico is the kind of person who sees himself as righteous, as a basically good person. I mean even when he was fighting with Vanessa over the baby-sitter she was like, she smoked pot, who cares everyone did and he's like "I didn't". It's these little character touches that are so well done. So as long as he wasn't sleeping with Sophia, he could lie to himself and say what he was doing wasn't wrong. But as hefinally broke down and admitted in the finale, it was wrong, he was sharing himself with another woman in ways he should only have been sharing with Vanessa and he was receiving things from the relationship (affection, trust, etc.) he should have only got from Vanessa. The only quibble I have with this is how one dimensional Sophia was and how quickly the audience knew she was Trouble while Rico himself was either blind to it or just didn't care something that never really was clear. I mean her manipulations were not subtle nor were they even accurate.

So in this same department was the attack on David. I actually liked the episode itself where David was "kidnapped" you could really fear the terror of not knowing what that kid was going to do and how out of control and precarious everything felt. But David landing in that situation was set up by his being insecure over Keith leaving and craving some attention. This set up David making a really stupid choice in picking that kid up and further offering to give him money. David is probably my favorite character? And so it's frustrating to feel like this big thing that happened to him and defined his arc for the rest of the season was based on a plot contrivance. Like I didn't think there was anything that happened that led up to him feeling insecure over Keith leaving, I mean he was the one that got, ahem, a sexual favor without even seeming to think twice about it outside of their relationship. And he was so supportive of Keith getting to do more with his job before that. It just didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, except that they probably knew they needed a reason for him to make such a naive decision and pick up that kid and give him money and buy his BS story. Because David is normally not stupid but feeling underappreciated and insecure can lead to someone doing things they wouldn't normally. Sigh, feel free to tell me I'm totally wrong about this.

So Ruth and George was another thing that kind of bugged me like it seemed like they decided to give George this mental health problem as a last minute addition? And I totally get why they did this and what they were doing throughout the season with them, kind of showing how they didn't really know each other and had made this really hasty decision and the kinds of complications that led to, but this was such a huge thing to do. I guess maybe they felt like the reason why he'd been married so many times needed to have such a big reason behind it, though.

Which leads me to Claire. I have mixed feelings about the whole Claire exploring her sexuality story line. On the one hand I kind of loved it, because sometimes you do feel a powerful attraction to a person that is not sexual. But because we don't really have a way to talk about that in our culture, it's almost like any significant feelings that are shown become sexualized. So on the one hand, I liked that. But on other hand, I was so disappointed in Claire for not thinking about Edie as a real person. She seemed clueless as to what it all meant for Edie and just sort of used her? I don't know it was kind of odd. I'm glad the show didn't show that same lack of consideration, though, by allowing Edie to basically Claire out of her life which is a completely valid reaction to have.

I was also kind of surprised by the conclusion to the Nate/Lisa storyline, like first of all that the police weren't all over the case was odd to me to begin with. They were just like, Lisa drowned. But how?!? Why?!? It was so odd. And then I was absolutely stunned by it being her sister's husband and his suicide in front of them. But I'm glad they wrapped it up and gave it an explanation even if it was kind of rushed. And that's all I have to say about Nate this season.

So I realized that all of the characters have been unfaithful except for maybe Claire. And I'd like to know (those of you who watched the show) if you have any opinions on the way fidelity is depicted in the heterosexual relationships vs. well the one gay relationship. Like, in every heterosexual relationship it's a huge deal and a deal breaker. But Keith and David have threesomes, they have an open relationship for awhile, Keith cheated on Eddie with David, David sleeps with Patrick when they are on the rocks....like I know the creator of the show is gay, but it just kind of strikes me as a bit stereotypical of a gay relationship? I mean when Brenda has meaningless sex it's this huge deal but Keith and David just kind of shrug it off. So...I don't really know what I'm saying but something about the differences in these depictions bothers me. And while David and Keith call it meaningless, it always ends up bothering one of them to some extent but not in the same hugely dramatic way it's problematic for Brenda or even Nate who ends up a father after cheating.

So. I hope I didn't sound too negative, like I said I just can't decide how I feel about the show. But there are some moments that I just love like smaller happier moments in the show when the characters feel so real. Anyway....I'm looking forward to watching Season 5 and finishing and I'm glad I watched the show. It's worth watching even if doesn't become my new favorite show ever. :)

Beauty and the Beast 1x07, 1x08, 1x09 and Six Feet Under Season 3

I was so nervous that the show was going to spin off the rails from the 1x07 preview that I let a few episodes pile up. But I shouldn't have been nervous at all, I should trust this show! They've handled everything so well and it's been such a surprise and delight and continues to be just that.

Like, Cat and Vincent are the only couple I'm actively getting shippy, fluttery feelings in my stomach for on TV right now. (I still sort of passively ship Forwood on TVD, but Caroline's Stefan stanning and my growing love for Tyler as an individual character are kind of changing that.) And it's so fun, because that's EXACTLY how I'm supposed to be feeling, it's the heart and soul of the show! It's just nice to relax and enjoy the journey. I love how there's so much honesty between them, and also some angst and sadness and how they have legitimate issues they need to work out but they both just really want to be together. ♥ And lol, my friend was telling me she saw a lot of complaints about how they haven't kissed yet and it kind of makes me laugh because I don't even care? Like, there's so much emotional meat to their every interaction and so much chemistry that I can wait for the kiss. It's kind of nice in a way how much their relationship is rooted in other things. But the show is definitely teasing that moment, I don't blame other more normal people for being impatient for it!

Anyway, I was worried the rage blackouts were going to be a thing where Vincent hurt Cat and it was forgivable because he didn't know what he was doing (I've watched other shows on the CW okay, ahem TVD, ahem), but I can say now that I don't think THIS show will ever go there. I find Vincent's story increasingly compelling. A person's free will is a really important idea on the show as is honesty in relationships and I like that even though both Vincent and Cat end up doing some sketchy things (and it's totally sympathetic), the show never treats it like it's something other than it is. The lies Catherine tells WEIGH on her, the things Vincent does bother him. But anyway back to Vincent's journey...I think it was an interesting and brave choice for the show to make him a soldier that has been transformed and used and then discarded by the government. There's an obvious parallel there for vets suffering from PTSD and so watching Vincent try to figure out how to have a life after everything he's been through and all the ways he's been used makes his journey really easy to root for. And I like that even Catherine is tempted and DOES use his beastly side to her advantage when it works for her to (like with saving Evan). Like, I think it's just something that happens in life, that we sometimes use even the weaknesses of the people we love for our own advantage--to feel better about ourselves, to get stuff done, etc, but it does have an effect on them, and so I enjoyed that JT called her out on that.

Also, I was relieved they decided that she wasn't the one causing the blackouts. And I think it was a nice twist that her mom was all up to her eyeballs in this super secret government stuff. That moment when her father told her she was like her mother was so poignant because she was at a place where she actively didn't want to be like her mom. Aw, Cat ♥ So watching her also grow up with this new knowledge about her mother and what her mother did to Vincent is interesting to watch.

The way he just drops into her house might be construed as creepy, but I don't know she doesn't seem to mind. And of course the last episode before hiatus was filled with so much shippy goodness!! I couldn't help but love how they can't just go out on a date together, but while they are having this big conversation about how they can't just have this wedding date like normal people, she hands him her necklace to put on--like this super familiar, intimate gesture, aw. And I love how when he did show up, she knew that he was there immediately. And they danced! How very Beauty and the Beast. But, of course nothing lasts forever....the ending was kind of shocking, but I guess Evan will know now? and I mean like in any show like this, it's kind of a bummer how Catherine has had to lie to Evan because he does kind of deserve to know what happened that night the Beast saved him? But at the same time Vincent is supposed to be dead. So Evan knowing could be really good.

And I love Tess! I loooved the episode with the boy band singer, she was so cute and funny and they were cute together. I don't know this show just makes me happy and gives me positive feelings. The CW gets a lot of crap for having bad shows, but Nikita and Beauty and the Beast are actually two shows I really really enjoy right now!

Six Feet Under Season Three

Wow way to take a plot contrivance and drag it out forever, show! Actually, the whole marriage to Lisa thing with Nate ended up paying off really well for Nate's characterization, but I am slightly resentful the show never let us love Lisa in the same way. What did we know about Lisa? Super Type A personality, scared to death of losing Nate. It wasn't until she was missing we got to learn fun quirks like that she liked Dr. Pepper. And maybe this was intentional, we saw as much of Lisa as Nate did, but I don't know, it just kind of bugged me. Like on the one hand from a writing perspective I think they explored some really interesting things with Nate's character through his marriage to Lisa, but everything that Lisa was on the show was tied to Nate. Which is how I knew, even before they knocked me over the head with it in the sixth episode, that this was temporary and not meant to last. Nate/Brenda OTP, etc. And it's interesting how a show of this caliber can dismantle one of its central relationships all the while still assuring you that they really belong together. I've been thinking about this a lot, to be honest, because there is all this stuff that I liked, how Brenda said Nate never really loved her, all the meat of Nate choosing to love Lisa even when he didn't feel it. This whole idea that you can choose to be committed to someone even if you don't feel the same excitement you felt with someone else. And that's a valid choice! But I felt like it was slightly undermined by the show's framing. And this is a well written show, don't get me wrong, but the idea of Nate and Brenda was always there.

But it was just kind of sad that the times the show did choose to give Lisa point of view were heartbreaking. Like in the sixth episode when she admitted she wasn't having orgasms, and then they have great sex in the woods but we find out later it was because Nate was thinking of Brenda. Or when she went to the spa to see Brenda and ended up breaking down in front of her. What made Lisa like this? Why was she so insecure and as a result controlling? I don't know I just wish we'd been let in a bit more.

Watching Nate unravel after she went missing was interesting to watch, and I kind of wanted to wrap up a copy of A Monster's Call for him and assure him that our truth is more than that of our worst thought. His commitment to Lisa was worth more than all those times he resented her, sigh.

The whole Arthur/Ruth storyline was so unbearable to watch. I felt like it could have been one thing, a really beautiful story about two people connecting romantically across a huge age gap, but it wasn't anything like that at all, I don't even know what the point of it was. I'm sort of over Ruth as a character at the moment!

Claire and Russell and her teacher were so fascinating to watch, but I also felt like that story line kind of whimpered out? I thought they did a pretty good job of showing how at first a personality like that is so dynamic and interesting and they were both so drawn to him and then they started to realize the truth of who he was, but it was too late he'd already divided and conquered. But Russell's confession seemed oddly timed and then suddenly Claire was having an abortion, and I don't know, it was just odd.

David and Keith, sigh. I really liked Keith the first season, but I did not like him again through most of this season. I don't know, I just like David loads and think he deserves to be with someone who treats him well. I do think it's worth noting that the two characters with major anger problems are Rico and Keith, though. Rico won a few points with me for his tenderness with Vanessa while she was suffering from depression, but obviously that was ruined by the end of the season!

I really felt like Billy kissing Brenda was a huge plot contrivance meant to get her in a position where she had no one but Nate to turn to. So I thought it was a disservice to his character, but whatever. I have little to say about Brenda this season, except I was so happy when she finally showed up again!

All in all, I felt like Nate's story was the most interesting to me this season, and I can appreciate why they did it from a writing standpoint but ugh, I still had issues! Maybe my issues are just tied to having to recognize fiction as exactly that. Anyway, I'm probably going to start the fourth season soon. Oh I cried a lot in the finale when Claire was spending all the time with the people who had died, ugh, this show.

So now you are all caught up on my thoughts about my TV watching! I know you're thrilled, lol.

Six Feet Under Season Two

So wow. I liked this season sooo much more than I liked the first season. There were some times I felt actually like, jarred into remembering it was a TV show when stupid plots came up (like Lisa getting pregnant felt very soap operatic to me) but it definitely felt like a feast of characterization.

One of the things I appreciate about the show is that it draws very complicated characters and creates situations that feel very life like, but I never hate anyone? Like there are some other shows that have characters on full display in all their miserably yucky humanness and it feels like a chore to watch, but I don't know, I feel such a warmth in the writing towards these characters. They are real light and dark (ha ha), good and bad. They feel very human and complicated in a way that I feel invested in seeing what happens to them.

I don't love all of the characters. I still can't get along with Rico even though I appreciate his presence on the show. Like, I like that the show has a wide range of characters with different ways of thinking and feeling about things but he's so...I don't know angry or hard edged. I had similar issues with Keith this season, I was beginning to aggressively wish him off my screen because I could feel the tension in every scene he was in. And I get that he is probably suffering from PTSD of some sort but it was really uncomfortable to watch. And I don't always love Ruth, either, but I think she's a fabulously written character.

There's so much to sift through on this show, so hopefully I can remember some of the good stuff. Also I watched the beginning of the season a couple of weeks ago and then I couldn't watch for awhile so I kind of get what happened in S1 and S2 mixed up.

*Nate and Brenda are fascinating to watch. I mean throughout the entire season you can see all the problems in their relationship and how it's fraying at the edges and rotting in the center but they can't see it you know? And the fight at the end felt SO CATHARTIC. I was actually really angry with Brenda when Nate told her about Lisa but she didn't similarly disclose because as cliche as it sounds these things will always make themselves known and so it did on this show as well. And also because even though Nate was completely wrong to keep things from her and was in a position where his actions had led to more direct visible consequences he still risked her rejection by telling her. Of course I realize her issues are much deeper and the kinds of things she had been doing aren't the kind you can just come right out and talk about. She wasn't at the point where she was willing to admit she had a problem either, so. Like I get the whys of it.

*Brenda and Billy's relationship as the narcissist/masochist is depicted in all of its insane reality. And you know what I like about it on the show? It's not a romantic relationship although it feels uncomfortably romantic to people around them. Which means they got it right. I just like that it's fully shown as being dysfunctional and destructive and that you can see why both characters feel like they need that relationship but also how it harms them. I think these dynamics are depicted in romantic relationships on TV, (obviously I'm thinking of Gossip Girl but there are others) but dressed up with pretty bows and romanticized and they aren't. They just aren't. Yes there are deep feelings but they are so twisted and unhealthy they are not good for either party. So Billy cutting Brenda off was the EXACT RIGHT THING for him to do even though he didn't take as much responsibility for himself as he should have. But even though it was right, I still felt so sad because of course they are brother and sister.

*I like Claire but the actress has some mannerisms that I find distracting. Even so I love how real she felt as a teenage girl trying to find where she belonged. I love how she is both drawn to Billy but also wary of him, that she enjoys his flattery but is kind of scared of him. And I think watching her and Ruth is so interesting, Ruth wanting a storybook mother/daughter relationship and sometimes forgetting that what she has with Claire is actually really great in itself.

*ugh Nicolae, I hope he's gone forever.

*It grosses me out soooo much how they eat around the dead bodies and drink coffee and stuff. EW EW EW.

*As soon as Aaron was introduced, I knew he'd be the last death of the season. And it was the first time I felt like the show was super gritty about death. I mean a lot of the opening deaths are kind of humorous almost and they don't show too much, but this was all out there and awful. I liked Aaron's storyline, short as it was, because he asked a lot of questions that are hard like "what if my life is just a waste of time" These are hard uncomfortable questions but I think they are things a lot of people feel and wonder about.

*Which is one of the things I like best about the show. In the middle of all the drama, at its heart its about trying to live a meaningful life and what that means and trying to form connections with people that matter. Aaron wasn't the only person with no one, there was another death where the woman knew no one. Ruth is constantly trying to break out of her shell of loneliness. Nate and Brenda's whole story is about trying to share your life with someone when you'd often much rather just hide and go it alone.

*I cried a little during the season's finale. Specifically when Nate went into Claire's room just to..spend a little time with her before his surgery. That moment just felt so real to me, so simple and yet so natural.

Anyway! I've only watched through season two so don't spoil me on anything else. I mean it, okay?!?

The Sunday Salon -- Stuff I Watched

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend or if you didn't have one your weekend in general!

One of the unfortunate side effects of stress for me is that I feel like I can't read. so I have read like, maybe one page since last weekend :/

This doesn't extend to watching things, though, maybe because it's easier to multi-task and watch something, I don't know. But I did finish the first season of Six Feet Under this week. I've only managed to watch the first couple of episodes of the second season, but I will say that I like it better than the first season so far. The first season started to drag for me but I think by the second season some of the story lines were wrapped up and new ones were introduced. And I felt like I started connecting to the characters more. Ana recently said she thinks the show is literary and I can kind of agree with that based on my experience so far--kind of like how a good book might drag at first, but suddenly you realize you are invested in the fates of the characters. Additionally, I think the second season is using the deaths better to reflect on the thematic material of the episode, there were times in the first season I felt like the fact that someone died was incidental to anything else. But so far in the second season I think they are working that aspect in to the plot and what's going on in everyone's lives much much better.

One of the things I love about reading and watching TV is when someone says something and it's like the first time you have ever heard that idea expressed in just that way and I kind of had that experience on the show when Brenda was talking about her old boyfriend and his wife and said something like, "they are complete in a way I will never be." I totally got what she meant by that or at least by looking at people and seeing they have something you do not and wondering about that thing. And in her story so far, she's exploring all these career/self-improvement options to fix this thing inside which is interesting enough. (and believe me, so far the answer is not Nate which is nice, but who knows if that lasts) Brenda is kind of an interesting and odd character.

Anyway in the first season I guess the most compelling or interesting story line to me was David coming out and coming to terms with being gay. I think using the church in this story was interesting to me, not so much because of the slightly villainous role his church was given (sometimes I think we reduce people to certain beliefs they hold and forget that a person is always more than that.) but because of how real it felt. It was kind of poignant and sad how much he wanted his life to be one thing, how much the church meant to him in one regard, and then reality. And I think this is the experience for a lot of evangelical gay people (I think in this who they are Episcopalian though? They talked about the big divide in the church and that's one church that did have a huge split) and reminds me that I need to finish reading Stranger at the Gate. But I also like that not everyone is okay with it, that his mother is awkward and trying to figure it out and that Rico was kind of an ass about it.

I also find David and Nate's relationship as brothers interesting to watch, the way Nate came around to deciding to stay with the family business, and the way their relationship has repaired. They complement each other perfectly in running the business! The whole, Kroner is going to buy them out storyline I'm bored of all already but I blame The Good Wife for fatigue of this kind of story line! (btw Ana I know you said Nate was your least favorite character and I want to know why? because Rico is mine, lol)

So basically I'm glad I'm finally watching. I'll probably have more thoughts as I continue to watch that I'll dump on you all!

I also watched a couple of movies over Thanksgiving weekend, Brave and People Like Us and I liked them both. I liked People Like Us (even though, like, the whole story was in the trailer) because it was about a brother and sister relationship primarily. I don't know I can recognize that objectively it's a bad film, but I still kind of liked it.

I was pretty spoiled for the whole of Brave, but I still enjoyed it. Again, I think it didn't quite have the Pixar magic of say Toy Story 3, but it was a nice story, very pretty, and made me cry a little. :)

Other than that, I really hope to see Anna Karenina next weekend! And I'll be spending my week reading The Final Martyrs and I really hope you join me! :)