rose_griffes

BOOK: The Shepherd’s Crown is the last Tiffany Aching novel by Terry Pratchett. I may have read it before? But I didn’t particularly remember it, and I wanted an audiobook to entertain me while doing a bunch of tedious chores, so Pratchett won out. And I enjoyed it: both the story and the narration.

TV: Andor, season two, five episodes in.

opinions about sounds (and more) here

This isn’t the first show on Disney+ that has made me think “needs less soundtrack”. But I’m shocked that it’s this show–season one’s soundtrack was a huge part of the success of it all. I could tell just a few minutes into episode one of season two Nicholas Britell wasn’t doing the main soundtrack work.

Some of my less-enthusiastic response to season two is simply that I generally prefer origin stories to, er, the stuff that comes later. At any rate: Andor is still a very good show. Just not season one good, alas.

I am very pleased that Wilmon is back for season two: he’s the young man who threw a bomb during Maarva’s funeral/the riot that ensued. The actor has an interesting face, and the character was at a potentially interesting point in his story.

Other elements, sans real spoilers: there are two romantic relationships happening and I’m… at a loss for words about one of them. Other than maybe “Gah!” The other one is heartbreak waiting to happen, but it’s also plausible, so I’ll just wait for the fallout.

One more day of Disney Plus. I'll probably watch the finale of Andor again - I won't have time to do much else. Currently my Tuesday and Thursday evenings are taken up by a weird work obligation, so I have even less free time than usual for the next several weeks.

Oh! I should mention that I finally found an animated Star Wars show that works for me. Rebels is adorable; I like the storylines, I like the characters, and the pacing is quick with only 20 minutes per episode. Alas, the animation is not great, but I'm, er, looking past that. Plenty left to watch when I finally subscribe to Disney again: I've only made it to early season two. By the way, I have been using an episode guide I found online - there are a few episodes that I've skipped, based on that guide. But not many!

One big plus that also fills me with curiosity: the timeline for Rebels lines up pretty well with Andor. So far Andor hasn't done anything to contradict the timeline of events established in Rebels (that I know of). Will they continue that? Will Andor directly acknowledge anything from Rebels in its second season?

Moving on. At some point in the next week or so, I'll re-up my subscription to Netflix for a month. Season two of Shadow and Bone is coming out mid-March. I'm planning to rewatch season one (a fun favorite!) in preparation for it.

Related to talk of streaming services: huh, I didn't realize that Rian Johnson is the executive producer for that Hulu (??) show Poker Face, starring Natasha Lyonne. The guest cast is very impressive, yet the trailer kinda annoyed me. The aesthetic sense was... weird. And then, BEHOLD THE DISCOVERY - it's Rian Johnson. Who, as y'all probably know, is more miss than hit for me.

I could probably say the same of Natasha Lyonne's work, and she's the star of Poker Face. A double whammy in that show of "probably not for me".

Back to Johnson: I will give Glass Onion a try while I have Netflix this time around, but I'm not gonna force it; either it's enjoyable watching or I'll stop.

Also on my list of things to watch on Netflix: Warrior Nun, season two. Possibly season three of The Umbrella Academy, but maybe not. Will attempt Peaky Blinders, mostly out of curiosity and Cillian Murphy. Oh, and Sandman, although Neil Gaiman's work is also more miss than hit for me. No animosity there, unlike with Rian Johnson's work; Gaiman didn't participate in ruining Star Wars for me.

Run, Climb (1123 words) by rose_griffes
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Andor (TV), Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Taga & Jemboc
Characters: Taga (Andor), Jemboc (Andor)
Additional Tags: post-episode, prison break - Freeform, survival on the run, grief
Summary: Somehow they manage to stick together.

Rewatching the prison break episode, I was struck by how Jemboc (older black man) and Taga (light-skinned young black man who knows sign language) stayed together, checking on each other as they're climbing upward within the prison facility. And then we don't see them again! It's distressing! So, y'know... fic.

Looks like Disney has no plans to release their shows on physical media. And why would they? It doesn't make sense, with their streaming platform as their current big project. Anyway, I guess I'm subscribing to Disney+ for another month, given that I'm still in a "brain being eaten, help!" stage with Andor. Gah.

So how are your brains y'all doing? Anything else* I should watch on Disney in February? Assuming that I can tear myself away from Andor long enough to do so?

*I haven't tried Star Wars Rebels yet. Going to give it a try, even though there's something about digital animation in a longer format (tv show versus film) that I find less appealing. We'll see.

This current obsession better subside enough for me to switch over to Netflix in March. I do want to see the second season of Shadow & Bone. Very curious how they'll work out another section of concurrent Grisha and Crow hijinx.

I may still be obsessing over Andor's first season. Just a smidge. ( spoilery links: podcasts, vids, and fanfic )

She-Hulk ended as it began: a bit of a mess, but fun. Will watch more if they continue.

Started Andor, and the praise for it is well-earned. It could still fall apart - I'm only halfway through season one - but I would be surprised by that. The writing is solid and it's a "trust the viewer" sort of show where the structure has to support a lot of weight. And does. I'm pretty much at *high-pitched shriek* levels of enjoyment right now, so I'm certain that I'll be caught up before the final episode airs in two weeks.

No books of note since my last post.