Haven't posted about this in a long while - I watch less telly than I used to because I spend a lot of time watching actual play TTRPGs on YouTube and other streaming service, but I'm still working my way through the backlog. And, of course, adding to it.

Thing 1: I watched the Good Omens finale. That was a bit unnecessary, really, wan't it? But then, I felt that way about season 2 as well. Michael Sheen and David Tennant are clearly having a fabulous time, but it was very fan-servicey in ways that didn't make sense. It completely forgot that the characters from season 1 existed (kind of understandable given the whole Gaiman situation?) except then flash of Adam cameo at the very end and why bother with that? And the whole thing of the Sir Pterry portrait and sweeping through that to a humanist universe without heaven, hell, angels or demons... well. It felt like a cheap tug on the heartstrings. Spouse enjoyed the whole thing a lot more than I did, which is probably because he hasn't read any fanfic. On which note, have a rec for Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma, just in case you haven't read that yet.

Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach (99423 words) by Nnm
Chapters: 16/16
Fandom: Good Omens (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Characters: Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale (Good Omens)
Additional Tags: Crowley goes to therapy, Crowley has Trauma, outsider pov, Everyone deserves a good therapist, Sunglasses, Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley works through his problems, Crowley-centric (Good Omens), aziraphale gets carried away, eldritch angelic horror, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, some discussion of suicide, love is a four letter word, gardening advice, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, the author has strong opinions about airports, post S1, S2 happens in the middle, We live in hope for S3, Of course the DSM is the product of demonic influence
Summary:

As soon as Aubrey Thyme, psychotherapist, had opened her office door and seen her new client, Anthony J. Crowley, sitting in her waiting area, she was observing and assessing him. At first glance, she paid attention to the following:

--His clothing was expensive and stylish;
--He wore very strange but noticeable cologne;
--His relationship to the seat he occupied could only, very loosely, be described as “sitting;”
--He looked angry;
--He was wearing sunglasses.

What Aubrey Thyme, a professional, thought, upon first seeing her new client was: you’re going to be a fun one, aren’t you?

Thing 2: I finally finished watching Renegade Nell on Disney+ and honestly, there really couldn't be a show more directed towards my personal tastes unless it involved more queerness. All manner of gender fuckery and cross-dressing, firmly anti-misogyny, 18th century setting, highwaymen and highwaywomen, ritual magic with distinct nods to thelema, fae magic without it, and truly fabulous casting. I haven't dug into fic for it, I'm assuming it got cancelled after season one to give funding to The Artful Dodger instead, but I absolutely loved it. Well worth a watch.

Thing 3: While we're on Disney+, I finally watched season 1 of Rivals while I was on holiday. I read the book in my late teens and have mostly vague memories of it (Appassionata embedded much more firmly in my brain), but I'm pretty sure that however brutal the show is in showing how women got treated in the workplace and socially in the 1980s, it's been toned down. It clearly has to be a period piece, odd as that seems to say about the 1980s, a period I clearly remember from my childhood, and the politics of it are much more jarring now than they seemed when I was reading the book. Perhaps easier to skip over Rupert being a Tory MP in the milk snatcher's cabinet in text compared to being shown it. Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed it, it's an absolute romp, and Taggie is perfection. I have quibbles with some of the casting (David Tennant is brilliant but he lacks the working class thuggishness of Tony Baddingham, which is of course another bit of classism that passed me by when I read it, Alex Hassell is great at the emotional core of Rupert but Marcus Gilbert will forever be my Rupert), but mostly it's fabulous and Oliver Chris is clearly having a great time playing a dim self-centred cad.

Thing 4: I am finally, finally, two decades late, watching Deadwood. Speaking of periods that were brutal to women. It is, of course, just as good as everyone said it is, and I don't have a lot more to say on that at this point (being 5 episodes into season 2)