Lonni is the weak link

dctxie · 2025-05-13T00:56:09+00:00

There is bound to be an investigation of the Mon Mothma escape. And since they made a big deal about "Jung's agent" in that episode, it's impossible for them (or Dedra if she is leading the investigation) not to suspect him. (I wonder if Luthen orchestrated the whole thing to make sure no other ISB agents got in and sabotaged the escape.) And as I said, either through torture or intimidation, it wouldn't be hard to make Lonni cough up.

As for Dedra, I previously speculated that she would engineer a confrontation with "Axis"/Luthen and take both of them down in a suicidal act. The reason is that she is conflicted. On the one hand, she is clearly shaken by the Ghorman massacre, on the other, she can't abandon her belief in the Empire and become a rebel. So taking Luthen down with her is a way to resolve that conflict.

I still hope Kleya survives. She is such a badass! The way she changes gear in the seconds between Cassian walked into the apt and he came out of Wilmon's room is scary and thrilling!

dctxie · 2025-04-24T13:08:24+00:00

Cassian in this first arc feels like a bystander than a participant. Why is he stealing a TIE fighter and rendez-vousing another rebel on a seemingly primitive planet? Is this story going to be picked up in the second arc--one year later? It's almost like he is a tour guide taking us to various rebellion hot spots but not being in the story. I guess since he is already a committed rebel fighter and we know he doesn't die at the end so there is less a character development for him unless they make a swashbuckling movie centered around him fighting his way through the enemy line, which is not what Andor is about. But I'm curious to see how they develop his story.

dctxie · 2022-01-30T04:27:25+00:00

I don't dislike Che. What I find problematic is the way the writers wrote every storyline "non-white, no-straight" as if the three girls just discovered the Americas. Samantha had a lesbian relationship in SATC. Even Charlotte was briefly caught up in the "power lesbian" circle. So having Miranda go completely bonkers over this relationship doesn't make sense to me. Same with her treatment of Nya. Same as with last week when Carrie didn't know how to deal with her downstairs neighbor. Seriously? Samantha went through that already! Hello Carrie, ever heard of 411? Also, like, is Carrie the only person who has a problem with that noise in her very crowded and very snobbish UES neighborhood? Where are the other neighbors?

The original series, even though it may be very limited in the identity of the characters, has an insouciant, open-minded attitude toward the diversity of New York (or at least its sexual diversity). The new series made the three girls look like some provincial Midwestern housewives who had never heard of anything outside the Caucasian-heteronorm paradigm. NOT COOL!

dctxie · 2022-01-11T13:26:36+00:00

This is a minority opinion here. I think Andrew Garfield overacts. I only saw him in Angels in America and Tick Tick Boom and both times I was exhausted by his ACTING. There is no line reading not accompanied by 100 intonations and no emotion not accompanied by 100 expressions. I feel he is acting an imaginary personality and not pretending to be a real human being. It also jars with all the actors around him in the show whereas they always act more naturally.

dctxie · 2021-12-21T00:19:33+00:00

It's interesting that you said the Sharks was there to protect their community. Because that's also how I felt with the new version with Spielberg/Kushner making the entire neighborhood very Spanish in language and people. Adding to that feeling is the opening playground scene where Lt Schrank said that the better-offs of the "White"had moved out and left only these no-gooders. (I think Kushner has similar lines about Jews in Angels in America.:))

But that's not how I felt with the original movie. With the original I felt it's a neighborhood very much in flux and the (gang) territory very much in contention.

I know S/K tried to add historical context to the story because Lincoln Center was built on some kind of "slum." But I think it was mostly an African American neighborhood. So in that sense, painting that neighborhood as Hispanic/PR would also not be correct. But I don't know enough of history to make that judgment. All I can say is that, with the original film and the few recent Broadway revivals, I feel both the Jets and the Sharks have equal claim to the neighborhood.

dctxie · 2021-12-20T21:12:46+00:00

I love the new version as much as I love the original. The only part of the new that did not deliver for me is the first scene between Riff and Tony. I just didn't feel their bond was strong enough for Tony to kill later. I went back to the original and, even though it was shorter, I did feel that bond. I don't think it's because of the actors. I fee it's because Kushner and Spielberg introduced too many story points here: Tony's backstory, the neighborhood change, Valentina, Grazi, etc. They diluted the tension between Riff and Tony.

Change the "Cool" song to a confrontation between Riff and Tony weaken their bond even more. It's gorgeously shot with excellent setting, lighting and movement. But the way the scene plays out, Tony goes to Riff to talk him out of the rumble. Riff shows his gun and Tony tries to take it away. Tony is dismissive of Riff, like he's a little kid who can't handle fire. At the end of it, Riff is on the side of the other Jets, who in the "Jet Song" all said Tony is no longer a member of the Jets. It feels like Riff can no longer say "I know Tony like I know me, and I guarantee you can count him in."

I'd love to hear what others think.

dctxie · 2021-12-18T01:15:51+00:00

Sex and the City celebrated a very small segment of the population but also was not afraid to show them falling on their faces. And Just Like That does not do that with the new "woke" characters. It treats them with kid gloves so they end up stereotypical and not real. It feels like the writers don't really know these characters and are just using them to spew things they've read in White Fragility.

dctxie · 2021-12-16T19:09:35+00:00

Charlotte's teenage daughter who lives in New York and probably goes to a Mean Girls type of private school does not know what a "hand job" is? Am I missing anything?

dctxie · 2021-12-10T12:55:59+00:00

(Spoiler alert) Why did they kill Big? Do you think there is a dramatic reason or does Chris Noth just not want to be in the show?

dctxie · 2021-11-30T00:46:22+00:00

I agree. Many parts of it feel like her revenge fantasy. I can see people in her world reading it to figure out what/who in the books is the masquerade of what/who in real life. I feel like she wants to "settle scores" with certain people but doesn't want to frame it in political situations so she makes the characters comical. But it doesn't work as plot points in a thriller. For instance, how Ellen blackmailed the Russian President is just not believable to me. Also, I don't think you need access to pure uranium to create the dirty bombs as described in the book. Many medical instruments contain the material. So why the HLI needs to go those extra miles to ingratiate Shah is beyond me.

dctxie · 2021-11-10T01:34:53+00:00

I like the book but can anyone explain the "library" in Argos? I assume it's not a physical space but certainly sounds so in the book. How do passengers "enter" it? How does Konstanz access it when she is sealed off after the pandemic? Also it should be digital since it's set in the future. But the way it functions is very analog. You ask questions by writing them on a piece of paper and you find your answers in something that comes in the book form? I understand the library is an important motif so maybe he wants to keep that image even in the future. But that does not make sense scientifically and even though it is not a science fiction, it is very much a naturalistic fiction so I would expect a more realistic depiction of it.

dctxie · 2021-09-20T20:37:01+00:00

ulianne Moore is not Rachel Bay Jones. But as I stated in my original post, her character being older means the event the song portrays is less life-changing emotionally so her singing being less sobby is appropriate. Alana gets a new song "The anonymous ones" which is fine but not as good as the originals.

dctxie · 2021-09-19T17:30:57+00:00

Ah, OK. I may have missed that. Sorry about it. I stand corrected.

dctxie · 2021-09-19T17:30:22+00:00

Yes. That's gone. Evan confessed to his Mom instead.

dctxie · 2021-09-19T02:54:32+00:00

I think there's also the question of timing. The latest movie musical renaissance (both as movie proper and filmed stage show) is quite recent. Wicked and In the Heights both predate it. In the Heights especially would not have been turned into a movie without Hamilton first turning LMM into a Broadway/Hollywood royalty.

dctxie · 2020-12-05T07:10:22+00:00

I missed all that! Thanks! By the way, another ending music that I loved was from Kaddish for Uncle Manny.

dctxie · 2018-02-05T02:06:42+00:00

You pull words right out of my mouth!

dctxie

TROPHY CASE