Salamu
SOME PEOPLE YOU KNOW
THEY DON’T BELIEVE…..JAMAICA – WE HAVE A BOBSLED TEAM!
While this post is found under the series critique label and
will mostly deal with the discovery of an awesome
new series, as well as an
existing one that I don’t know why I hadn’t watched until now, I need to make
mention of the fact that one of my favourite nationals is going to be
attempting to fly their nations flag high at the upcoming Sochi Winter
Olympics.
As you can gather by my intro, Jamaica has qualified yet
again for the bobsled event at this year’s games. But unlike in 1988 where the
Rasta Island competed in the four man event, this year the island nation
qualified for the two man event.
What I find awesome about this story, besides the fact that they
have qualified for the games, is that they crowd sourced all of the money that
they needed to go to the games. If this does not highlight the potential of the
internet as a reliable funding method which can seriously rival that of
dabbling in the stock market, then I don’t know what my name is or my gender
for that matter.
And now, onto the main purpose of my post. Since the last
episodes of Homeland and Sons of Anarchy, I have been desperate for a new
series to keep me intrigued until Dallas and Game Thrones starts again. So I was
looking around and came across The
Musketeers which is a British produced series loosely based on the works of
that insanely talented (although quite eccentric) Frenchman, Alexandre Dumas. The
first episode sees Cardinal Richelieu hatching a diabolical plot to discredit
the Musketeers with King Louis XIII and to plunge France into civil war. This is
done by framing one of the most prominent Musketeers, Athos. Athos, Pathos and
Aramis must not only prove Athos’ innocence, but they have to fight off the
vengeful thoughts of D'Artagnan who thought that Athos killed his father.
I have always had MAD LOVE for the Musketeers so perhaps I
am a bit biased when I say that a series such as this is long overdue. The action
is good, the women are beautiful and the plots are easy to follow. And the fact
that D'Artagnan is having an affair with the woman Athos is going depro over
sets the series up for an ironic twist. D'Artagnan wanted to kill Athos in the
first episode over an imagined crime, later in the series Athos will no doubt
want to kill D'Artagnan over a proven offense. Fascinating Stuff Indeed!
However if one had to be critical, there are some flaws. The
fact that it is an all English cast is slightly off-putting when one considers
that the majority of the story will be based in either France or Spain. So if
you can look past a bunch of poms posing as Frenchmen, the biggest hurdle of
the series is already overcome. While the plot is easy to follow, this could be
a double edged sword. There are times when one wants to watch a show with a
complicated plot, like CSI, and there are times when you want to just zone out
with a series where you won’t have to think too much. But the hallmark of a
good series is to make each episode end in a cliff hanger so that you would get
a consistently good viewership every week. Perhaps I will be surprised, but I don’t
see that from The Musketeers.
There are some critics who are overly critical though. Jim
Shelley, who writes for the Daily Mail, heavily criticised the programme,
saying: "The Musketeers didn't take itself too seriously but was still so
bad it bordered on self-parody" and that "the quality of the
sub-plots hardly merited its 9pm slot in the schedule rather than (like Merlin
or Robin Hood) much earlier.
Please do me a favor you pompous twat. Please take your
head out your ass and just appreciate the fact that the Brits have finally
unearthed a series which is worthwhile watching. Just think…no more will I have
to be subjected to bullshit about Monty
Python or The Black Adder. And don’t
get me started on what I think of that utter rubbish you call Doctor Who.
The second series that I have watched is Vikings and I could absolutely kick
myself for not watching it sooner. The reason I didn’t was that I thought there
were more than nine episodes in the season. But apparently, there was only
nine. And the second season is coming up, so I had to watch it.
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| I am Ragnar Lothbrok...and you will bow before me! |
OH MY LEATHERY SACK…WHAT
A SERIES not only is it a historical series (which is right up my ally),
but it is about a warrior race who were thought to be savage barbarians who
never had a brain cell between them. However, Ragnar Lothbrok is proving to be
a strong character who is very calculating. He does have his flaws, sleeping
with beautiful women while being married to a lady most men would give their
left ball sack to be with, but then so do all protagonists: Jax Teller, Tyrion
Lannister, Carrie Mathison. What is a series without an imperfect protagonist?
What I am looking forward to in the new series is how Ragnar,
who is aligned with King Horik, will respond to the rebellion of Earl Borg
which now includes Rollo who is Ragnar’s brother. Perhaps now Ragnar will be
kicking himself over the fact that he trusted his brother enough to not make
him swear on his arm ring.
The only critique I have of the series is its paganism. Yes I
understand that the Vikings were pagans, but I did struggle watching the
episode which included the rituals at the temple of Uppsala. In fact, I didn’t finish
watching that episode.
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| Some steamy Khaleesi action wont hurt |
And then there is that disgusting Viking ritual of passing
around a bowl of water. The warriors wash their hands, and then they take a sip
of water to wash their mouths out…which they spit back into the bowl, they then
blow their noses into the bowl before it is passed onto the next warrior who
follows the same process. I first came across this in The 13th Warrior, and the look on Antonio Banderas’ face
was priceless and basically said what we all felt at that moment without saying
one word.
Dallas will need
to be interesting if they are looking to extend the series beyond this third season
and Game of Thrones probably won’t
have to do much to prove its utter awesomeness. However, a few steamy scenes
with Khaleesi or one of my all-time favourites – Natalie Dormer – won’t hurt.
Mei jua daima kuwa kabla yenu, na vivuli nyuma yako!
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