After seeing that my post about the NCIS:LA finale last season has become my most read post for some odd reason I decided I needed to cover the season premieres - so settle in!
NCIS:LA - Well.. I am happy to report that they managed to redeem themselves. The season premiere was certainly not without its faults but it was a definite improvement on the finale. It was amped up NCIS:LA but it was not on steroids thankfully. All in all I was impressed. What I enjoyed by far the most was how vulnerable everyone was and the way the feelings came across the scene. Rarely, if ever, have I seen the characters so jarred and pained. I have to hand it to the actors that they all did a frigging amazing job - especially portraying emotional vulnerability and difficult feelings. But what surprised me most was the depth by which Sam Hanna was portrayed and how he behaved throughout the episode. I did not expect it to be honest and getting such a good exposure of the character' vulnerable side was wonderful. Never has Sam been so human. For me, the star of that episode was LL Cool J hands down - he did an incredible job with Sam. If this continues, the series will be on a roll.
I do have a special post coming up however covering how spectacularly badly they portrayed Deeks's oral trauma. As someone that has been through oral trauma after surgery I am well versed on the subject.
NCIS - All in all the premiere was excellent. It wasn't particularly exciting but the story line had some crazy twists and turns I was all over trying to discover. Most of all it was pure NCIS and I loved that. I do admit it was strange not to see Ziva there though. All the characters returned in their glory but I most enjoyed seeing Palmer and Ducky interact. These two are such a wonderful pair and keep me laughing all the time. It seems this season will be taking some good twists and turns and I am looking forward to seeing the new agent Emily Bishop, I've got a feeling she will be lovely. And of course the actors were good - I mean it's NCIS!
Castle - The best premiere hands down. It was sooooo good. I was glued to the screen the second it started and stayed glued till the end. The plot was tight and controlled and superbly exciting. I mean it was the perfect Castle - wit, humor, nail-biting action, tension and incredible character interactions. And I absolutely enjoyed the twist of Beckett being a federal agent. It felt quite natural and it displayed a new side of the character. I honestly really liked that part in the episode. It will be good to see Beckett at the precinct again but they did this bit incredibly well. I instantly liked all the agent characters. And I have to mention Lisa Edelstein as Rachel McCord - she was amazing! I enjoyed the character so much. She was a nice mix of spunk and professionalism. She reminded me of Alex Blake on Criminal Minds who is a character I really enjoy and I enjoyed her and Beckett's interaction. So nice to see two professional women working together.
And yes, I grinned like an idiot when Beckett got engaged to Castle. I mean!!!!!
Parks and Recreation - To be honest - this was not a good episode. Considering the incredibly high standards Parks and Rec has set for itself, the premiere fell really short of it. I do not think I've ever before been bored before while watching or even offended. But I was both. I mean, the premiere had some good points but mostly it was just really thin - the only interactions I liked were Andy and the British gentleman and Leslie interacting with Ulee. Leslie somehow did not feel like Leslie in the episode. I personally found it incredulous she would stoop so low as to help a woman remove slugs from her lawn. Leslie has always been portrayed as being a woman of great self-respect and dignity and responding to people's petty demands did not feel like the character at all. Doing this just to stay in office just did not feel right. Leslie as a character is not a doormat in the slightest so I found this strange.
Somehow all the characters felt off in one way or the other. Even Gerry and Donna.
But the worst example was Ron. It is common knowledge that Ron dislikes Europe and I have enjoyed that tidbit about him. When praise of Europe can often be so senseless it is a refreshing thing. But what I did not expect was Ron's behavior in the episode. I was honestly surprised at how disrespectful they portrayed him to be towards Britain and European culture. I mean, he refused to use pounds and insisted on using dollars as the finest money there was, talked about the 'stench of European socialism' and referred regularly to 'the godforsaken continent' and referring to everything before 1776 as rough draft instead of history - to me, this is not funny at all, instead it played really badly on a stereotype of the American traveler that can not handle anything European and insists on everything being like in America. Something which really frustrates Europeans. I get the point that Ron Swanson does not like Europe and I am fine with that - I enjoy how they poke fun at Europe regularly. But what irked me was how disrespectful Ron came across. He has been portrayed as someone that values education and is respectful towards people so this shift in his character was not something I enjoyed.
Parks and Rec has never before relied on stereotypes and it is something I really enjoy about the show. So I hope this is just a hiccup and that Parks and Rec will return in all its glory this week.
So all in all - I enjoyed the majority of the premieres. There were some bad moments but on the whole, they returned with a bang.
So stay tuned!
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