being seven is where it's at

[elapses]

So, important question for you, internet: has anyone seen the most reason "season" of Psych? I airquote that because DON'T THEY HAVE LIKE, HALF SEASONS OR SOMETHING NOW? There was stuff that aired last summer/fall and stuff that aired in spring? (Ugh I hate the concept of half seasons, god damn Battlestar Galactica, if you are even going to sell the DVDs separately, STOP IT WITH THIS 2.5 B.S, THAT IS YOUR THIRD SEASON). Anyway what I mean by "season" is the spring episodes, and what I am curious about there specifically is how deeply those episodes were pushing the Shawn/Juliet. Enquiring minds want to know! For reasons.


I FINISHED THIS SHOW LIKE, a week ago, possibly a week and a half ago after ZIPPING THROUGH IT AT AN UNMENTIONABLE RATE, and I keep meaning to talk about it but everything keeps coming out wrong. I feel like all the things I come up with to express my ♥_______♥ feelings are things like "this is exactly the kind of show I would get into on rerun", which actually means "I LOVE IT SO MUCH" but sounds like "this is mildly entertaining I guess!". There is also this certain ~feeling~ to the show that I cannot explain in words at all, because it is... a feeling. It's low key, I guess? Kind of old school? NICE? SEE, I CAN'T FIND WORDS FOR IT, NONE OF THOSE WORK RIGHT. AAAAAAARGH. The other problem was that I was trying to pretend I cared about things other than the ship. HAHAHAHA OKAY. (I mean I kind of do, I am never bored by any part of it and I am fond of a lot of people and there were like, two episodes where I kind of shipped Kalinda/Cary, until I changed my mind and started shipping Kalinda/the FBI girl, because uh, that was... pretty hot.) And even there, I was trying to express feelings in MATURE and ARTICULATE ways when clearly that was not ever the way to go about this, which I realized today. So let's do this the right way, SECOND GRADE STYLE:



THEN YOU HAVE TO HAVE AN ~INTROSPECTIVE PAUSE~ TO LET EVERYTHING ~SINK IN~



AND THEN


FEELINGS EXPLOSION!!!!

Seriously though, as much as I am a unrepentant lover of unresolved sexual tension on television shows, I AM JUST SO GOD DAMN SICK OF IT LATELY. Maybe it's the shows I've been watching over the last couple of years, but everything ends up coming to this really delibrate, and in many ways manipulative head and then the making out starts and then the making out ends for contrived reasons and I JUST, I DON'T KNOW, want to go back to the place where UST is slow burny and comfortable and easy? And the answer to that: PROCEDURALS. If by "proceduals" we mean shows that have ~*plot*~ going on that is not consistently character-driven. Which sounds like it would be opposite my values, because I love characters, BUT NO IT REALLY IS NOT, because when your story is driven by lawyering/~the quest for the truth~/murder/politics it gives this whole element of something ~bigger than you~ and when the story is all character you end up with........... a lot of bullshit, honestly. Because then the drama's got to come from relationships, which means upheaval and misery and always ends in everyone dropping out of character.

In any case I guess there's no way to know where this show intends to take Will/Alicia and this finale makes it even harder to divine, but this season was a good ride. So let's see where they take us next.

Comments

[dudski.livejournal.com]

USA is actually mercifully sane about how it numbers its seasons - they air in two chunks but it's always one season a year and they do the DVDs that way. IDK where the last chunk of Psych episodes went though, I haven't caught up on it yet.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

In theory I have no problem with it whatsoever (unlike BSG, WHICH, REALLY, WHY) but in practice it makes keeping track of what season I'm watching weirdly difficult for me. I swear everything that mattered used to air from September to May with a couple breaks inbetween, NOW WITH ALL THE CABLE SHOWS AND THE NETWORK SHOWS TRYING TO COMPETE WITH THE CABLE SHOWS EVERYTHING IS JUST... ALL OVER THE MAP. I AM NOT THE BRIGHTEST CRAYON IN THE BOX, egads it gets hard to keep track of.

[hazyflights.livejournal.com]

but everything ends up coming to this really delibrate, and in many ways manipulative head and then the making out starts and then the making out ends for contrived reasons and I JUST, I DON'T KNOW, want to go back to the place where UST is slow burny and comfortable and easy?

THIIIIS. I was a little meh about the last minute or so about the finale - I thought they could've gone for something more intense than Alicia getting a call from Will with Peter standing there, but outside of that, I really love the way they've built up these two. There are a lot of subtleties there, especially early on where she's just trying to feel her way through the work and he's being supportive, but still a friend.

IDK HOW TO EXPLAIN IT, I JUST LIKE IT A LOT.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I feel about that minute, to be honest. It was too soon, almost, and also... I don't know. I actually loved the actual dialogue, but I always had an issue with the way it was framed, and I think you're right to bring up intensity -- they could have done that in a much stronger way, I guess. It's one of those moments that's hard to gauge until you've seen the fallout, though.

BUT I AGREE. They're such a quiet, understated part of the episodes, which seems funny to say, since a lot of their moments have been pretty overt. But a lot of what's good about them is in the friendship and the barely-there moments. Although I'm not going to pretend I didn't enjoy the making out as well, that was... nice.

[cambridge.livejournal.com]

I have! Although I'm sorry to say, I don't really remember Shawn/Juliet stuff? Maybe towards the end? I know they definitely pushed it for the season finale.

I don't watch The Good Wife but I heard good things about it AND I LIKE YOUR PICSPAM. GR8 CAPTIONS.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I ACTUALLY DO NOT LIKE SHAWN/JULIET, so this is good! I mean I can deal with them but sometimes I feel like Psych would just be PERFECT and then they... ruin it with Shawn/Juliet UST. Idk she is just... way, way too good for him, and I loved the last season (or whatever ended in October, idk) but their ~stuff~ downgraded it a lot for me for some reason. So I was actually gauging to see whether it was worth catching up. AND APPARENTLY IT MIGHT BE.

TY TY.

[goldenmelisande.livejournal.com]

I SEE UR CLEVER SONG REFERENCE AND I APPROVE. Also did you make the title of this post a link??? I WAS NOT EVEN AWARE YOU COULD DO THAT, BUT LOL FOREVER AT WHAT YOU LINKED TO.

Also I 100% agree about the UST thing. Like, I kind of vaguely watched Castle and Fringe last season and they BOTH pushed the UST/relationship angle SO OBVIOUSLY when it was just completely unnecessary and took away from the show for me. Which is actually a little bit different from what you're saying, I think, since they are procedurals/supposed to be driven by plot? SO THERE'S EVEN LESS REASON FOR THEM TO NEED TO GO THERE. But ugh I just like, want to watch a show that is about people I love without having to deal with contrived relationship bullshit (because I swear, it's like television writers don't understand that you can write two people in a relationship and still be interesting, you don't need to keep making things "dramatic" or whatever), UNDERSTATED CAN BE NICE. IT CAN BE VERY NICE. IT CAN BE WONDERFUL, IN FACT.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I did omg, I HAD TO CLOSE THE TAB, I KEEP JUST GOING OVER THE BARRIER, but I did not want to lose your magnificent gift. And lol you would approve. I would have put "grrrr" instead of "grrrl" but I feel like that might have been confusing to the outside world.

Nooooooo that is what I mean-- procedurals was a weird way for me to put it, I don't know, I couldn't think of a better way. Theoretically they should lean more towards understated UST, but in practice it is complicated and you have your Castles and Fringes and Boneses. And like, it isn't even that every UST show has completely sucked up their UST thing, it's just that everyone one I've seen has sucked it up in little ways and EVERY TIME YOU WATCH A NEW SHOW, IT'S LIKE, IN THE PILOT EPISODE THEY CLEARLY ESTABLISH THE UST, and I just, I don't know. I am exhausted. It is all the same in the end. Shipping things used to feel so much more fun :(

UGH OMG I REALLY NEED TO FINISH DOING MY ICON KEYWORDS, why am I so lazy.

[silverstars.livejournal.com]

Ah I love The Good Wife! I never talk about it, but I think it's really good. Last season I would get really behind and then marathon 4 or 5 episodes in a row. I found I liked watching it better that way for some reason? I don't know why. It's weird, but I don't think the show would be as good as it is if the cast wasn't so excellent. They have really fantastic actors and it's totally the reason every single character is so interesting.

I don't really ship anyone although I do think Will and Alicia are cute. I think I'd feel more strongly about them if I were capable of hating Peter. I just like Chris Noth too much.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I agree completely! I think it's that so much of it is lawyering, so you're not like, on the edge of your seat needing to know what happens next ever. WHICH IS ACTUALLY A REALLY NICE FEELING, SOMETIMES, I like low-key shows. It's not like there's anything particularly new or brilliant or groundbreaking here, but it is so thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. Also I think you might be right about the cast, god damn what an incredible set they snagged themselves.

UGH, I LOVE CHRIS NOTH, and I actually really love everything they've done with Peter? And that all plays into why the scene from the finale felt weird, idk, they've got a lot of marriage stuff left on the table to play with, it doesn't seem like anything good can come of this confession and ughhhh I WANT MY SLOW BURN SHIP, god damn it. (Although I think I'm in a minority in that sometimes I really like plotlines that play with loyalty and fidelity like this. And other times I really hate them. I DON'T KNOW, I AM A FICKLE PERSON, I CAN'T HELP IT.)

[folding.livejournal.com]

I have a deep love/hate with unresolved sexual tension, because when done right it is the best, but done wrong SO FRUSTRATING.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

ALSO FRUSTRATING: THE RATIO OF DONE RIGHT TO DONE WRONG.

[ambiguousreason.livejournal.com]

I AGREE SO MUCH ABOUT HALF SEASONS BEING STUPID. UGH. Anyway umm there was a little bit of Shawn/Juliet, nothing too forward for most of the episodes although the season finale and the episode before that were definitely heavier on it.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU, this is exactly what I needed to know, I GUESS THAT'LL BE MY NEXT PROJECT THEN.

[sunspawn.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THAT SHOW.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Of course you do. Because it is awesome.

[girlintheattic.livejournal.com]

UGH. This show is so good right? And I kind of know what you mean by old-school. I love that it's a pretty classic formula just done really well and with some awesome characters. And I DEFINITELY know what you mean about the K-i-s-s-i-n-g that should be happening.

I also really agree that procedurals are the best way to have successful, non-forced feeling UST. AND I LOVE IT.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Classic formula, yes! It's pleasantly uncomplicated. I don't know, sometimes new things and complexities are nice, but other times you just want something straightforward and classic.

[http://users.livejournal.com/spyglass_/]

Mmmmm. The Good Wife. One of the things it does best is actually develop the characters overtop of the plot, sometimes more so than in non-procedurals. Which, okay, I have a bit of a problem and I watch way too many procedurals, so that's not usually a problem for me, but then I usually spend hours bitching about how I love these characters and why don't they develop them more. BUT THAT IS BEYOND THE POINT because TGW does a pretty excellent job of developing everyone.

I wish I had a clue where they were going with this Will/Alicia thing though. I have a bad feeling it's going to break my heart, so I need to ~prepare myself~

[elapses.livejournal.com]

And see, the only procedural I watch right now is Bones, so I hadn't even thought of it that way. But you are completely right-- I find the entire balance of it perfect

CLAIRE SAID YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO BREAK YOUR HEART. I was kind of like "what? really?", buuuut then I saw the finale and now I JUST... do not know. It's funny how I felt like I had such a handle on them and then the show came down all "HAHAHA: NO". I reallllly really did not think they'd go there this quickly.

[pinkverse.livejournal.com]

i'm going to miss bonamana, ngl. there aren't any unintentionally hilarious lines in their new song, so i hope the mv will provide me with some lulz :(

i find myself getting really bored/irritated with UST, especially since it seems to follow the same pattern nowadays (and ~the powers that be~ are more concerned with getting the characters together asap, inserting relationship drama, breaking them up -- THEN THE CYCLE REPEATS, AD NAUSEUM). i really do prefer UST when it's...comfortable and easy, like you said, and it feels like a natural development for the characters. lol idk, i think my irritation comes from the fact that i haven't watched any good TV this past year, except for doctor who.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

UM, ME TOO. Which is so ironic because when it came out my reaction was pretty much "WHAT IS THIS SORRY SORRY 2?", but it ended up bringing me so much entertainment. OH WELL, nothing lasts forever. I agree about the MV though, although even if it is another glorified dance version something lolzy HAS to come out of the SM Town summer album.

It's just getting to the point where it's all pretty obnoxiously repetitive, you know? There are only so many unresolved sexual tension stories out there to tell, only so many reasons to ~keep them apart~ before it gets ridiculous. It seems like the first thing TV writers do when they're trying to create a show these days is sit down and say "OKAY, WHERE'S OUR WILL THEY/WON'T THEY?!" which is so... backwards. Especially since it seems like a lot of the best ones were stumbled upon accidentally.

[thecolorbetween.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD, I AM CRYING BECAUSE IA MH APPY AND I HAVE NOT EVEN BEGUN TO READ THIS POST HELLO I AM BACK GOODBYE PUNCTUACTION OH MY GOD ALEX I THINK I JUST SPELLED THAT WORD WRONG AND YES YOU'RE RIGHT I SO DOOOO HAVE A TYPE YOU DID YOUR DRAWINGS TALKING ABOUT PSYCH AND THE GOOD WIFE ALEX I MISSED YOU CAN WE GCHAT SOON I MISS SWEDEN AND I MISSED YOU AND I WANT THIS SHOW BACK I HOPE YOUR FEELINGS ARE GOOD SORRY FOR ALL THE CAPS.

Okay, I've calmed down, so I can say I agree SO VERY MUCH with a) The other problem was that I was trying to pretend I cared about things other than the ship. HAHAHAHA OKAY., SO TRUE, SO TRUE, SO TRUE and b) In any case I guess there's no way to know where this show intends to take Will/Alicia and this finale makes it even harder to divine, but this season was a good ride. So let's see where they take us next. BUT I HOPE IT ENDS WELLLLLLL. (That cap with "Can't stop thinkin' 'bout u guurrrrl" is the greatest thing to exist.)

[elapses.livejournal.com]

LOL CLAIRE OH MY GOODNESS THIS COMMENT. I am glad you did not edit out the errors, YOU CRACK ME UP. UM OBVIOUSLY WE NEED TO TALK SOON THOUGH, I want to hear all about your Swedish adventures.

I HOPE IT ENDS WELL TOO BUT I ALSO DON'T CARE IF IT TAKES FIVE YEARS TO GET THERE, I DON'T KNOW.

[mossharts.livejournal.com]

i love the good wife

[elapses.livejournal.com]

LOLLLLL, well. I cannot help myself, I have all this Josh Charles wifing left over in me from Sports Night, I JUST WANT HIM TO GET THE GIRL.

[book-babe.livejournal.com]

i have missed your typing. that is all i have, i have a real comment when i don't have to be up really early and it is 11:42, i am going to come back this time, i have ~thoughts that relate~ for once.

love youuuuuuuuuuuuu.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

LOVE YOU TOO BRO

[angelkutty.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what other people wrote BUT the way the USA seasons work is instead of starting in Sept/Oct and going until May, they start in like June/July and go until like March. And they take one hiatus in the middle, like the Christmas one regular shows do.

Anyway, not much Shawn/Juliet except they do quite a bit in the season 4 finale, but kinda not really at the same time. Either way, they won't be getting together any time soon because everyone on the show says that as soon as they get together, the show is over. They like keeping them apart.

Also, I loooove the Good Wife and everything you said in the paragraph before the pictures is exactly how I feel. I keep trying to explain to people why this show is so good and there are no words for it.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I THINK I JUST GET CONFUSED BECAUSE THE HIATUS BETWEEN IS SO LONG? Maybe? It's also possible I am just dumb, that happens.

Oh my god do they really say that? THAT'S SO BIZARRE, there's so much of Psych outside Shawn/Juliet, it's never seemed that UST-focused. I suppose that works to my advantage, though, I like them apart. JULIET IS WAY TOO FANTASTIC FOR HIM, Shawn gets a little... twerpy. (I say that with love.)

I KNOOOOOOW, there are not. It's just something you have to watch and delight in all by yourself.

[thecolorbetween.livejournal.com]

Alex, this Will cap (http://pics.livejournal.com/elapses/pic/00132pds) with the commentary is still one of my favorite things. I just went back over this post and heartily laughed out loud when I saw it.

[thecolorbetween.livejournal.com]

[elapses.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA CLAIRE I LOVE YOU ♥

[veils.livejournal.com]

I decided to stalk your Good Wife tag because I just finished the finale and loooooooooooooooooooool why am I not surprised your feelings are illustrated with drawn-on caps, I love you.

THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS:

- EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL
- Will is adorable and I would marry him if he asked me (especially because he thinks good dinner is pizza and beer)
- Cary still has a stupid smug face
- "Are you all right? You sound like you've been running."
- WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT ENDING. I am so glad I downloaded the season two opener

[elapses.livejournal.com]

DRAWN-ON IS THE BEST WAY TO EXPRESS ANY KIND OF FEELINGS, FACT

I like your icon!

But yes, everyone is beautiful, and WILL IS THE GREATEST, and Cary sucks, and lolllllllll yeah that was mean of them. And I thought the s2 opener was kind of a cop-out, but whaaaaaaatever.