sunshine_queen | (no subject)

Best Balls-Out Decimation of a Show's Canon with Little or No Regard for the Long-Suffering Loyal Fans

Look. Irina Derevko was never what we'd call...nurturing. Nor would she ever come even remotely close to winning Mother of the Year. But the character assassination that took place at the end of the final season of Alias was not only uncalled for, it was totally unsupportable by the previous four seasons. Sadly, it appeared that the writers couldn't be bothered to go back and watch the previous four seasons because, if they had, they would have learned that Irina, while being duplicitous, untrustworthy, murderous, and very often a total bitch, was still Sydney's mother; a role she took seriously even while she was planning world domination. Which made her eleventh-hour decent into a daughter-killing rampage all the weirder. Yeah, she wasn't about to start baby-sitting the Spy Baby or anything, but that didn't mean she'd be willing to fight Sydney to the death over a little immortality juice. Poor Lena Olin seemed to agree, because the expression on her face during the final ten minutes of the show reeked of "I'm just doing this for the paycheck and, by the way, where's my damn vodka?" When Irina finally fell to her death in her white circa-1982 pantsuit with the Sphere of Life Horizon Rambaldi Juice leaking out onto the floor next to her, the collective core audience turned to each other and said, "What? The? Fuck?" Way to ruin the ending of a perfectly enjoyable show, Abrams. -- Erin

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In the end, the creators brought back Irina long enough to completely negate everything we knew about her character, making her the evil bad guy behind every last Rambaldi plot since the beginning of time, which...looked like it pissed off Lena Olin just as much as it did the audience.

Amen, Regina. Amen. I actually have stricken that entire ordeal from my memory because... shit.

Long live Irina!

Today my sister had her idea of a dream day in that she went to the beach, shopped, and then we all went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I stayed home during the day and watched Gilmore Girls and I just have to say... I love Emily. So much. Because the way she gets upset, like, when Rory shows her the little shack she and Lorelai lived in? And then Emily has to back out and put on her sunglasses because she's going to cry? It was gorgeous. Or when Trix said she was going to give Rory her trust fund (!) early and then Emily got really upset because she knew once Lorelai was no longer beholden to them that she would never go see Emily and Papa Gilmore? It broke my heart. Who knew Kelly Bishop was such a good actress?

Also, Papa Gilmore was the dad in "The Face on the Milk Carton." That makes me love him even more.

(Okay, I admit, this is the first time since I started watching Alias that any show has excited me this much. Not that I didn't love the X-Files, but there are very few characters to get attached to, as in, three. All of which I am very attached too. Above all, Dana. And then Skinner. And then Mulder. Although the last two change. But Dana always wins.)

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Listen, I wasn't any happier about what happened with Irina in the finale than anyone else, but after three years of Regina spewing vitriol at anything Alias did, ever, good or bad, I consider her opinion worse than useless. She's a prime example of why I hate TWOP, who give snark a bad name. Thank GOD I never have to encounter that witless bint's writing ever, ever again.

Just to be clear, all wroth is directed at vile, loathesome Regina, and none at my Sunshine Queen. Please forgive the venting of my deep, undying hate to her in your LJ. {{{}}}

Wow, really? I have always loved Regina's recaps and never felt that she was much harsher on Alias than I was myself. (Granted... I am kind of horrible and evil. In the most loving way possible.) I guess after reading the reviews of the original recapper, Manimal, who loathed the show very obviously, I was so grateful that we were given Regina, who actually liked the show.

No worries, Yahtzee, I have a lot of friends who hate Regina passionately.

I pretty much loathe TWOP top to bottom -- the reviewers for Smallville and VM were the only ones who ever seemed to understand how to be funny AND be a fan, and the rest of them I think are sort of bile-drenched and about 1/3 as witty and 1/30 as insightful as my flist. But I am glad that you understand and that I am not alone in the Whap Regina Brigade.

Oh, Madi. *weeps* Did you really have to bring up the . . . the . . . I don't even know. I can't even think about it. I realized a few days ago when I was idly musing over the SpyRents that I totally do not feel like Alias is over, just because I had believed for years that they would wind up with some sort of positive resolution to their story, or at least something that did their relationship justice. And there was no question that things were going to end on a good note for Syd and Irina!

:( I think I am always going to be bitter at Alias, which makes me sad. But seriously. It sucks. Remember when our greatest woe was fear that Lena wouldn't come back? And then Lena was sweet and good and wonderful and she came back to us, and they slaughtered her. And . . . and . . . I need to stop now before I have an emotional breakdown.

Right.

In conclusion, WORD, Regina!

Also, oh, Gilmore Girls is beautiful. (Emily is amazing. Whenever she winds up accidentally revealing how much she loves Lorelai and Rory, Lorelai in particular, I just get entirely overwhelmed. The episode in season one where Lorelai's back is all messed up so Emily stays over to take care of her? Ohhhhhh man. *sniffles* Wow, this is rambly. As is my way.) And awww, you're into a new show! I'm so proud of you! And of course, Ollie's gotta introduce you to the glory of the Buffyverse this year. It's all so exciting!

I mostly posted this for you to see. So that you would know that we are not alone. We have Regina to back us up. And I'm bitter about the ending too, so I choose to dwell on the more positive aspects. Such as, it gave us all these wonderful characters to adore in the first place. No emotional breakdowns. We can always believe, as I choose to, that Irina was another double and the real Irina is hanging out. Somewhere with THE REAL NADIA, who was not killed by a glass shard with a vendetta. (HATE. I love Nadia!)

Emily is just... wonderful. I think I love her best. More than Papa Gilmore, which is saying something, seeing as I usually love the daddies more than everyone else. Richard/Emily is definitely my OTP. In the marathon the other day I saw some episodes where they were separated and it destroyed my soul. Decimated. (I looooved the episode where Emily took care of Lorelai and Lorelai said "Thank you, Mommy." LOOOOOVED.) And yes, I am glad to like GG, and I will be happy to share fandoms with Ollie.

If we're in the happy place, then let's throw in that SpyDaddy is not dead, too. :)

And, oh, gosh, the "Thank you, Mommy" always, always makes me cry. It frustrates me that their relationship neeeever gets to progress enough, because those Gilmore women are just so damn stubborn.

When Richard and Emily split up, I was broken. I haven't actually seen much of those episodes, since I haven't seen much of s5, but the very thought traumatizes me. They get back together very, very adorably, though. :D I saw the one where they renewed their vows, and awwwwww.

Well, Daddy being alive, that goes without saying, now doesn't it?

When Lorelai said that, I actually rewound so that I could make sure she'd actually said it. So it wasn't like when I watched "Conscious" and clearly heard Syd say "Excuse me, Daddy," and Regina heard it too, and then I get the DVDs and the captions cut out the "Daddy." Oh no.

The thought of Papa Gilmore and Emily not being together tears me apart. I won't think about it anymore. I need Richard/Emily icons.

Just because every time you mention it I have to do my exclamations of love..

Gilmore Girls! Oh, so much love. Emily is awesome and I try to explain her awesomeness to my sister, but she doesn't get Emily. It's sad. I will have to try harder to teach her the ways of the Gilmores.

Ahhh, I worship this show.

Icon twins!

How can you not get Emily. I don't understand. That's like... it would be like not understanding the glory that is Jack Bristow. When everyone in the world knows he is the best daddy on the planet. )Occasionally misguided, yes, but still, best Daddy on the planet. And that's like Emily. She is misguided more often than not, but she means well, and Lorelai is blinded to this and arg.

So much word to this entire post. As for Irina and the "Alias" finale, it just didn't happen. I might not even buy S5, really. I consider the show dead after S4. Perfect ending, I think. Well, besides the car crash, but...still. And as for "Gilmore", Emily is and always has been my favorite character. The first piece of GG fic I ever wrote was a long Emily piece that is, sadly, still unfinished and will always remain that way. But yes, she's fantastic. I dislike the things they eventually did with the character, and it's one of the main reasons I stopped watching, but when she's on, she's the best part of the show. Kelly Bishop is fantastic. Her best moment ever, I think, (or at least my fave) is in the first season ep where Richard has the heart problem and she tells him she wants to die first. Their relationship always fascinated me. And made me cry, when things got less than perfect. Oh, Richard, notice the apples!!

And Dana and Skinner are my two favorite "X-Files" characters. And then Well-Manicured Man, and then Mulder. No, I cannot explain my love for WMM. I just...can't.

I pretend some elements of season five happened. Like, I loved Renée and Rachel and Balthazar. And I do love the SpyBaby. And Nadia did wake up (and I can just pretend the rest never happened. Other than the date with Jack.) And I would've even accepted Irina's behavior up to the SpyBaby's birth, because sure, it might've looked like a betrayal, but it might've been for her own good! It's not unheard of!

OMG, when Emily insisted that she needed to die first? I was dying. It was so perfect, because she was so serious, and Papa Gilmore knew what she meant by it and was so sweet when he agreed to it. (HONESTLY, Papa Gilmore, they're Venetian!)

I do like the WMM. Then again, I kind of love CSM.

But no one more than my Dana. I looooooooove Dana.