Will (TV 2017)
Jan. 19th, 2019 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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historyisalieThis is a rather rambling review/thoughts about the TNT single season show Will, about the young William Shakespeare's journey to fame and his interactions with Christopher Marlowe. As I'm moving away from Tumblr more, I wanted to archive some of the things I posted only at Tumblr here. This was originally on my main blog and featured on my Will sideblog Kit Is My Main Concern/
Unedited and my personal opinion.
Brief mentions of Da Vinci's Demons, Gunpowder, and Something Rotten.
A friend thought I’d enjoy this since we’re both fans of Da Vinci’s Demons about young Leonardo.
I wasn’t put off but enchanted by the anachronistic music. I was enjoying certain aspects of it.
This is what I wrote when they asked for my thoughts as approached the finale :) It’s a bit rant-y :P
Will - leaves his wife and kids presumably a woman he chose to marry to follow his dreams, barely sends them any money, is initially mediocre playwright, and is such a dumbass he doesn’t dispose of the rosary before he gets to London nor does he hide the letter that could get him hanged. he doesn’t seem that religious it’s all familial duty, which is odd because he doesn’t care about his wife.
In fact he can’t wait to start banging Alice. Ugh, fuck you Will and your “never been so happy”. Bet that’s not what you said at your wedding or when you had a son :/
This is why it’s better Caterina Sforza wasn’t in Da Vinci’s Demons and there was no mention of Anne Hathaway in “Something Rotten”. (Again I love only certain aspects but SR’s Hard To Be the Bard is fucking amazing)
Anne - is a far better wife than Will deserves.
Alice - knows he’s married. Seduces him anyway. Twice. Says she doesn’t want him to leave his wife then gets upset when she’s called a whore. Also why is mostly undressed compared to every other woman on the show and how come she rarely does the dressing as a man thing after that one time? How’d she like it if man she loved dumped her later for younger woman? :/
Episode 7 had a lot of good stuff but then Alice starts getting involved in Catholicism. As if it’s not heresy and as if Anglicism doesn’t also baptise babies, I don’t get the dreamy eyed look over the baptism. This is some Catholic worshipping bullshit and if she gets arrested it’s her own fault. [she did get arrested, rescued, and then threw herself into religion even more wtf.]
Gunpower had the same Catholicism/Protesant storyline (later than Will is set) and it didn’t drag on this long.
Also having Topcliffe be chief protestant and child molestor seemed unnecessary “kick the dog” moment. Anglicism and Catholicism are, especially to someone outside Christianity similar religions and from a modern perspective the Anglican church has made much more progress on tackling its deepseated misogyny and homophobia than Catholicism so I guess they want to be “poor precious Catholics being hunted by the mean Anglicans” or something but I’m not really interested.
ep 7 had some Alice&Richard conversation because that’s a missed opportunity, they don’t seem like brother and sister at all most of the time :/ [I love sibling relationships of all kinds and this was such a pity. Also I cheered when Richard punched Will in the face when he found out he’d been having sex with Alice.]
Presto (?) ugh, if he’d just stayed at the theatre when given the chance. Kind of tired of his anti-Harlots storyline. [Harlots is a better show for female representation!]
Richard - could just be shallow but he’s got a kind heart and good hair, and a decent relationship with his comely wench :) Though he too has been sleeping around! [I’d now add OMG Richard, precious loyal compassionate baby!]
Marlow - tortured artist struggling with writer’s block, faith, issues of sexuality. Hits my buttons. Why so little Will/Marlow interaction? Here also for potential Kit/Richard :P
(also I was already starting to think about Kit fic. I fell for Kit hard and he deserves a post of his own for breaking my writer’s block. Let me love you! I was not there for him seeming to be swayed, like Alice was, but totally there for somewhat truthful Gay Atheist Spy storyline!)
Amelia - she and Lord Fortescue were fun. She knows exactly who and what she is and how to use it to her best advantage, daring to play Titania on stag :)
Also Will’s landlady, liking her as a character.
On the fence about Ellen, she doesn’t want Alice to make the same “mistake” but she got to marry for love and slapping her daughter for wanting that choice :/ But Keenan the beer guy deserved someone who cared about him, so he probably had a lucky escape.
I was AGH about episode nine after I wrote all this but the finale was much better, Richard taking the stage to bring down the villian and Alice finally leaving with Southwell which could have made for a far better season 2 had the show been renewed.
All in all, like Da Vinci’s Demons which at least got more seasons, Will was a fun anachronistic show that did best when focussing on characters (Will/Kit, Richard’s growth) and less on out-there plots, and one I liked the potential of more than the overall execution, leaving me to write and enjoy fanworks more than the canon.
Unedited and my personal opinion.
Brief mentions of Da Vinci's Demons, Gunpowder, and Something Rotten.
A friend thought I’d enjoy this since we’re both fans of Da Vinci’s Demons about young Leonardo.
I wasn’t put off but enchanted by the anachronistic music. I was enjoying certain aspects of it.
This is what I wrote when they asked for my thoughts as approached the finale :) It’s a bit rant-y :P
Will - leaves his wife and kids presumably a woman he chose to marry to follow his dreams, barely sends them any money, is initially mediocre playwright, and is such a dumbass he doesn’t dispose of the rosary before he gets to London nor does he hide the letter that could get him hanged. he doesn’t seem that religious it’s all familial duty, which is odd because he doesn’t care about his wife.
In fact he can’t wait to start banging Alice. Ugh, fuck you Will and your “never been so happy”. Bet that’s not what you said at your wedding or when you had a son :/
This is why it’s better Caterina Sforza wasn’t in Da Vinci’s Demons and there was no mention of Anne Hathaway in “Something Rotten”. (Again I love only certain aspects but SR’s Hard To Be the Bard is fucking amazing)
Anne - is a far better wife than Will deserves.
Alice - knows he’s married. Seduces him anyway. Twice. Says she doesn’t want him to leave his wife then gets upset when she’s called a whore. Also why is mostly undressed compared to every other woman on the show and how come she rarely does the dressing as a man thing after that one time? How’d she like it if man she loved dumped her later for younger woman? :/
Episode 7 had a lot of good stuff but then Alice starts getting involved in Catholicism. As if it’s not heresy and as if Anglicism doesn’t also baptise babies, I don’t get the dreamy eyed look over the baptism. This is some Catholic worshipping bullshit and if she gets arrested it’s her own fault. [she did get arrested, rescued, and then threw herself into religion even more wtf.]
Gunpower had the same Catholicism/Protesant storyline (later than Will is set) and it didn’t drag on this long.
Also having Topcliffe be chief protestant and child molestor seemed unnecessary “kick the dog” moment. Anglicism and Catholicism are, especially to someone outside Christianity similar religions and from a modern perspective the Anglican church has made much more progress on tackling its deepseated misogyny and homophobia than Catholicism so I guess they want to be “poor precious Catholics being hunted by the mean Anglicans” or something but I’m not really interested.
ep 7 had some Alice&Richard conversation because that’s a missed opportunity, they don’t seem like brother and sister at all most of the time :/ [I love sibling relationships of all kinds and this was such a pity. Also I cheered when Richard punched Will in the face when he found out he’d been having sex with Alice.]
Presto (?) ugh, if he’d just stayed at the theatre when given the chance. Kind of tired of his anti-Harlots storyline. [Harlots is a better show for female representation!]
Richard - could just be shallow but he’s got a kind heart and good hair, and a decent relationship with his comely wench :) Though he too has been sleeping around! [I’d now add OMG Richard, precious loyal compassionate baby!]
Marlow - tortured artist struggling with writer’s block, faith, issues of sexuality. Hits my buttons. Why so little Will/Marlow interaction? Here also for potential Kit/Richard :P
(also I was already starting to think about Kit fic. I fell for Kit hard and he deserves a post of his own for breaking my writer’s block. Let me love you! I was not there for him seeming to be swayed, like Alice was, but totally there for somewhat truthful Gay Atheist Spy storyline!)
Amelia - she and Lord Fortescue were fun. She knows exactly who and what she is and how to use it to her best advantage, daring to play Titania on stag :)
Also Will’s landlady, liking her as a character.
On the fence about Ellen, she doesn’t want Alice to make the same “mistake” but she got to marry for love and slapping her daughter for wanting that choice :/ But Keenan the beer guy deserved someone who cared about him, so he probably had a lucky escape.
I was AGH about episode nine after I wrote all this but the finale was much better, Richard taking the stage to bring down the villian and Alice finally leaving with Southwell which could have made for a far better season 2 had the show been renewed.
All in all, like Da Vinci’s Demons which at least got more seasons, Will was a fun anachronistic show that did best when focussing on characters (Will/Kit, Richard’s growth) and less on out-there plots, and one I liked the potential of more than the overall execution, leaving me to write and enjoy fanworks more than the canon.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-20 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-20 12:18 pm (UTC)I've also seen Anonymous, another Shakespeare story, for the sake of Jamie Campbell Bower but dear lord that movie is a mess. I won't spoil but I don't recommend it in the least, especially for how the treatment of Queen Elizabeth!