Few quick knee-jerk Primeval 5.1 thoughts:

[clo_again]

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So YAY BECKER ISN'T DEAD. And BOO WHAT WAS WITH THE NOT EVEN ACKNOWLEDGING ALL THE FUCKING WORRY. I get that they had to speed the episode along but they teased for months and then it was all "Hey Becker showing up at a creature scene WITHOUT ANYONE TREATING IT AS ODD. So: yay. But also: continuity!fail.

Becker telling Connor they'd go put a Mickey Mouse plaster on it, oh my god. AND THE "WOULD YOU LIKE A TANK?" EXHCHANGE. Basically Becker got some utterly fabulous lines in this ep; I wonder if they did it on purpose to show that he's lightened up a lot since Abby and Connor made it back safely, and since he knows that Danny made it back safe too and the fact that he's bloody idiot enough to go back through the Anomaly isn't Becker's fault. So, HAPPY BECKER! \o/

Lester. Oh Lester. Ben Miller, any day you want to marry me, I am all yours. Even with Ben Mansfield flashing his quite-inspiringly-beautiful face (and body; don't forget the body...wait! I had a point!) in the background. He pulled off the slightly cringeworthy knighthood B plot as only Ben Miller could and had some lovely interaction with Jess to go with it. I like that he has her in the ARC to bounce great lines off now because she can give as good as she gets and it's much better TV than Lester sulking alone in his office.

I...did not hate Matt in this ep? I love the implication that he and Abby are going to become a team to balance Connor and Philip because frankly, Abby has been under-used since series three and it's about damn time she got a good plot arc going. Also I like Abby and pairing her up with Matt more bodes good things for my feelings towards Matt (I don't hate the guy but it's really hard to like him when he has all the personality of a concrete wall). I do wonder if Becker's loyalties will come into play between the two factions later in the series, because right now he's the only 'team' member (except Jess but I pretty much expect her to side with Lester, especially based on the delightful scenes they had in this ep) who's still in question and he's got ties to both Connor and Abby. Can't help thinking that the long-term goal of this plot arc is to isolate Connor completely though (hello Stephen in series 2! PLZ DO NOT BE FOLLOWING HIS EXAMPLE, CONNOR. A DEAD HERO IS STILL DEAD DAMMIT). Especially since Philip basically spelled that out to his little spy!assistant tonight.

A note on her: the moment I saw her, I went "Yeah, those are disguise!glasses." And they are but why would she need a disguise? She's supposed to blend in as Connor's assistant; what's with actually making her look MORE suspicious?! Seriously costume people, disguise!glasses only work for fancy dress parties. In real life - or on time-travelling dinosaur shows - they just look obvious and therefore silly. Lose them, please! Unless they actually have a to-be-revealed purpose (maybe they have hidden cameras in the frames hahahaha...oh, show about *time-travelling dinosaurs*. I'll stop laughing now).

Matt's magical hidden 3D screen projector gives me hope that we'll see more future!tech this series. And Primeval does future tech brilliantly (seriously Doctor Who, take note and stop using the psychic-fucking-paper ALL THE TIME).

So overall: v. good? Maybe a 7/10, because Connor's peril was fairly obviously not-actually-going-to-kill-the-character peril because he has this whole story arc unfolding with Philip. Putting Abby or Matt (although that would've ruined his dramatic rescue) in danger instead would've felt much more tense (yes, I wouldn't put it past this show to kill off a main character in the first ep of a new series. THIS EVIL EVIL SHOW, WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD DAMMIT). I understood why it was done to bolster the Abby/Matt relationship but...look we're going to kill Connor just when his epic plot arc is beginning! Yeah, whatever. But there were some sparkling lines and Becker got to show off his awesome and Connor was generally adorable as ever, and Abby/Matt makes me excited for the rest of the series like whoa.

OH SHOW, SHOW. I MISSED YOU (in uh, the couple of months between these series. But six eps totally doesn't count as a series, so there). GET A CONFIRMED SEASON SIX ALREADY PLEASE*. Not giving you one would be criminal when you're so much better than most of the other stuff on TV. And for all that there are plans in the works for a film (omg yes please!) and a spin-off series and a Canadian series, I want this series.

* Apparently a sixth season depends heavily on the ratings for season five, which sucks when it's on a channel that, I think, only comes with pay-to-view Sky or Virgin, so naturally some viewers will be lost from ITV. If y'all could remember to tune in to this series on TV as it airs if possible instead of downloading (or set your Sky box to record it even if you don't care and play the episode while you go do something else instead of watching it, although you do get Ben Mansfield if you watch which is totally worth it), I'd appreciate it? I know it's not much but everything counts.

Final thought: it's really weird watching new episodes of this on a Tuesday. Anyone else?


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In real life news: today in work I was typing comments on a colonoscopy referral while two different people talked at me and I was so distracted that I instead of "changed by Dr Davies" I typed "changed by Doctor Who".

Thankfully I reread it immediately and went "...Wait. I see what I did there!" and changed it before I saved the thing, though I'm sure it would've been amusing for the next person to look that patient up. When I confessed to the nurse who was talking to me she laughed and laughed, and then went away to tell Dr Davies.

He has yet to tell me his opinion on being confused with a Timelord but I'm pretty sure he'd find it hilarious (and then reflect mournfully that even if he was a really cool Timelord, they'd just get him to do time science as an unpaid extra).

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There has been no news on the job front. It makes me sad, so much so that I ordered Ice Road Truckers season four today to keep myself from thinking about it. It's comforting to look at my potential future jobs and know that, no matter what, they most likely won't involve jacknifing on an ice road over a snowy cliff. So you know, it's not so bad.

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They haven't taken any money off me for Olympics tickets yet. I am so far undecided about how this makes me feel (paying for Olympics tickets means spending money I'd really like to spend on a new iPod or a Kindle, or just putting into my moving-out-of-my-parents' fund. But, Olympics. So I don't know).

I bet they take the money out tomorrow now that I've said this. Damn them.

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This makes two not-meme-related updates in under a week. If I keep this up, you might be able to say that I'm actually keeping an LJ again. Shock.

Comments

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

So far there's only been one person I know of (and that's in pretty vaguely friend of friend of friend way) who has had their ticket money taken. I think the system maybe working very, very slowly.

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

Apparently they've started taking the money for fencing tickets.

[clo.livejournal.com]

Oooohhh, I never clicked that they might deal with it by sport rather than individual application; people on the radio were saying that some money was taken off them and more money later so maybe that's the way it's happening (though tha doesn't seem very fair if people who've applied for lots get all their tickets and one-ticket-people don't get anything). And the things I've applied for - tennis, equestrian, opening ceremony - are up with the most popular things, so maybe they have to work up to them.

Still, it'd be nice to know! I hate the not-knowing part.

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

I don't know if that's official or what, it's just that no-one had had any money taken and now a couple of people have. I applied for the women's individual foil which as it is unlikely to have any British interest and tends to be the least regarded weapon and the men's team foil where if luck goes with team GB they might get a medal and if they don't I might get to see the German, Italian and Russian foil teams. I expect that last one to be massively over-subscribed.