Hawaii Five-O

Greetings Loved Ones! Liu Is The Name, And Views Are My Game.

Today I’d like to talk to you all about Hawaii Five-O, or as I like to think of it, what Law & Order would look like if it were set in Oahu, and had more bullets, and fewer braincells. Yes indeed! This 2010 reboot of the popular 1970s TV show is more fast-paced, action-packed, and stylishly-violent than anything else, but it still manages to be a lot of fun, and in a way that doesn’t make you feel guilty. Now, before any of you ask, no, I haven’t actually seen the original series, so I’m not going to make any comparisons in this review. This will be a strict evaluation of the 2010 reboot, and the 2010 reboot alone.

But what, you might be wondering, is Hawaii Five-O, and more specifically, the reboot, about? Well, it’s a series that follows an elite task force within the Honolulu Police Department, formed by the governor, which deals with special cases and crimes. The group consists of four members–Steve McGarrett, a former Navy SEAL and Hawaii native, Daniel “Danno” Williams, a cop from the mainland who came to the island to be with his daughter, Chin-Ho Kelly, a retired HPD detective and High School friend of Steve’s, and Kono Kalakaua, a recent graduate from the Police Academy, and Chin-Ho’s cousin. Because it was created by the governor, the group answers specifically to her, and is granted full immunity when performing its duties. This allows them to get away with a number of questionable acts, such as beating up and threatening suspects, and entering locations without a warrant. But before you get worried that this show is just another Wire–meaning it’s a depressing, meandering chronicle of the lives of corrupt cops–I’d like to point out that the characters here never step too far outside the limits of the law, and their immunity gets revoked later on in the series. So, yeah. Don’t worry. They are still the good guys.

Anyway, despite its classification as a “police procedural,” Hawaii Five-O feels much more like a straight up action-adventure series. Nearly every episode features a chase scene, shoot out, explosion, and choreographed hand-to-hand combat. On top of this, the cinematography is not unlike what you’d expect to see in a Michael Bay movie. Slow motion, whip pans, shots from, and of, helicopters, 360 degree turns, low angle shots of people getting out of their cars–these are just a few of the things featured in the series that give it its slick, fast, action-movie feeling. Now, like I said before, Hawaii Five-O is not a deep series at all. There’s no thought-provoking commentary on current events or racism, as with Law & Order, and no intricate plotting, as with the Wire. Still, the series has good action, good pacing, good character development, and it’s very enjoyable to watch. Plus, it’s refreshing to see a TV series that features a largely Asian cast.

As I’ve made it clear in such posts as “Why Colorblind Casting Works,” and my reviews of Sense8, Ex Machina, and Agents Of Shield, the portrayal of non-whites in mainstream media, particularly Asians and Asian-Americans, is very important to me. I feel that the roles available for Asian actors are very limited, and that those that are available are highly stereotypical. I’m therefore always on the lookout for movies and TV shows that not only feature lots of Asian characters, but that have those characters be fleshed out and well-rounded. That’s why I watch Fresh Off The Boat, and that’s also why I initially got into Hawaii Five-O. See, two of the main protagonists–Kono and Chin Ho–are Asian, as are several of the minor characters featured in most episodes. This choice to have so many Asian characters might seem odd to people who have never been to Hawaii, but, trust me, it makes sense to do this. Hawaii is a state with a predominantly Asian and Happa (mixed-race) population, so it would look weird if you had all the characters be White, Black or Hispanic. But that’s not the point. The point is that, while the main focus of the series is still the two White men–Steve and Danno–the most interesting characters are easily Kono and Chin-Ho. Both of them have quirks, personalities, and backstories. Kono is a huge football fan, an avid surfer, and a sharp shooter. Chin-Ho is an ex-quarterback, a loving, protective family man, and someone who has issues with the Honolulu Police Department. By contrast, the two white protagonists, Steve and Danno, are kind of bland. Steve, especially, failed to inspire me. Maybe it’s because the actor playing him–Alex O’Loughlin–has to work hard to overcome his native Australian accent, but, I don’t know, his performance is pretty monotone, and Steve, as a character, lacks personality. He’s big, muscular, and good-looking. And, well, that’s about it. He doesn’t express a wide range of emotion, and isn’t all that interesting. Kono, by contrast, is extremely cool! I was actually kind of nervous about her character at first, because, when I saw the trailers, she was pretty much wearing a bikini the whole time. I thought that, maybe, she’d just be a sexual object. However, when I actually got the chance to see her an action, I was satisfied as both a Feminist and a Chinese-American. She’s witty, self-reliant, shows a wide range of emotions, has a distinct personality and interests, and doesn’t adhere to any of the stereotypes White people have about Asians–other than that she knows martial arts, but, seeing as her character is a cop, I can forgive that.

So, to sum it all up, Hawaii Five-O is a slick, fast-paced action series that isn’t deep, but isn’t insultingly stupid either. It’s a fun way to spend an hour–or several, if you’re watching it on Netflix–and it’s got some of the best, most well-rounded Asian characters on television right now. It’s a 7.5 out of 10. If you want to watch it from the beginning, go to Netflix or Hulu. If you want to just dive right in, it’s still on CBS, and has a brand new season coming out September 25th. However you choose to view it, I can guarantee that you’ll enjoy yourself if you do so.

Sense8

Sex, philosophy, and high octane thrills–these are the first things that come to mind when I think of Sense8, the latest Netflix original series to hit the small screen. Written and directed by the Wachowskis–most famous for their work on The Matrix Trilogy, V For Vendetta, and more recently, Cloud Atlas—Sense8 follows a group of eight strangers from various parts of the world who, one day, become psychically linked, and find themselves able to see, hear, smell, touch and taste what the others do. The eight in question are Will, a Chicago police officer, Riley, an Icelandic DJ, Nomi, a transgender hacker from LA, Lito, a closeted gay Mexican actor, Kala, a Mumbai pharmacist, Capheus, a Kenyan bus-driver, Wolfgang, a German locksmith, and finally, Sun, a South Korean businesswoman. Each of them quickly becomes aware of the others’ existence, acquiring skills and habits that they originally did not possess, and even learning how to communicate with one another, despite all speaking different languages. Things only get worse when a mysterious man named Jonas appears and tells them that they are all being hunted by an unknown organization that wants to kill them. And, well, the story just gets crazier from there on in.

Why You SHOULDN’T Be Watching Agents Of SHIELD

Greetings Loved Ones! Liu Is The Name, And Views Are My Game.

And welcome to my third, and final, review of Joss Whedon’s Agents of SHIELD.

Those of you who follow my blog know that in my first review of the series, I said that it was entertaining, but highly clichéd and lacking in substance. Then, in my second discussion of the show, I described how impressed I was with some of the choices that the writers made in terms of plot and character development, and thus gave it a higher rating. Now, in my final look at the franchise, I will tell you in plain English that you can only eat so much shit with sugar on top of it before you realize that what you’re eating is, in fact, just that–shit. Stinking, steaming, stone-hard shit. That’s what this series is, and I’ll tell you why.

First off, remember how in my earliest review I said that I admired the fact that this show didn’t have too much overarching plot and gratuitous character drama–how it was nice to see a classic action/adventure series in the tradition of David Carradine’s Kung Fu? Well, forget everything I said, because by the middle of it’s FIRST season, Agents of SHIELD develops SO many goddamn sub-plots, ranging from the character Coulson’s quest to understand how he got brought back to life, to the hacker Skye’s search for her parents, to the team’s repeated clashes with an evil organization headed by a professed Clairvoyant–that it’s enough to make your head spin. To quote the great Sweet Brown, “Ain’t Nobody got time for that!”

Second, I once gave PRAISE to this series for making some bold choices–like having the comic relief character Fitz turn out to be a bad ass, like giving the stony-faced Asian stereotype May a sense of humor, and most importantly, having the pretty boy Ward start a relationship with her, and not Skye, whom everyone predicted would be his love interest. Now, however, I have to take back all the compliments I gave the show, because its pretty much made all those interesting changes null and void. Fitz’s cool side has never re-surfaced, May’s sense of humor has vanished as quickly as it came, and not only are she and Ward no longer together, he pretty much came out and said that he was in love with Skye the whole time. This latter detail is particularly frustrating to me, because I thought it was a clever, original, and very interesting choice to have the show’s romantic center be a relationship between a younger White man and a middle-aged woman of color. Not only is this very rarely shown in the media, it also goes against all audience expectations. So often when you watch a show, you can tell straight off the bat who’s going to end up with who–in Glee, you know Finn and Rachel will be together, in Avatar, it’s obvious that Aang and Katara will get married some day. With Agents of SHIELD, that apparent romantic pair up initially looked like Ward and Skye–the show’s two sex appeal characters. I was so ready to see it happen, was so prepared to watch a predictable, made for a horny fan base romance, but then, May and Ward started sleeping together, and I was thrown totally off guard. I started questioning my own expectations, and even began to have hope for the series. But then, of course, the writers had to ruin one of the few good things they had going for themselves by having Ward not only cheat on May, but also tell her she meant nothing to him. This choice seemed both contrived and unrealistic to me, because if you think about it, May and Ward have a lot more in common than the latter an Skye do. Both are fighters. Both are cut from the same cloth. Both have suffered through trauma in the past. It honestly felt like the writers were desperate to find a way to give the horny fans the pair up that they wanted, and not the one that made sense. This decision to break up the show’s only interracial couple is troubling for another, even greater reason though. It confirms all my worst suspicions that the media doesn’t want people of different ethnicities marrying and intermingling. This might seem like a bold, and somewhat absurd assumption to make, but if you think about it, it isn’t all too far fetched. Nearly every movie, play, or TV show made that features an interracial couple ends with that couple breaking up. If you don’t believe me, then just look at Harry Potter, Jungle Fever, Snow Falling On Cedars, Mr Nobody, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Glee, Friends, Scandal, Othello, Madame Butterfly, and Miss Saigon for your proof. Even more disturbing than having the couples’ love end in tragedy, these productions also go out of their way to make the people of color seem less desirable than the White love interests. In Harry Potter, for instance, the protagonist’s Asian girlfriend, Cho Chang, is written as weaker and more emotionally fragile than his White one, Jenny. Similarly, in Agents of SHIELD, the Asian woman, Melinda May, is frigid, stern and cold in comparison to the bubbly and outgoing White girl Skye. Now just what kind of message is that sending to all of us at home? A bad and fallacious one, that’s what!

Anyway, after sitting through these last few episodes of Agents of SHIELD, I just lost all faith in the series. It jumped the shark so much that it damn near sent the cast into orbit. That is why my final grade for the show is a full on 6 out of 10! It’s not just bad, it’s offensive. It won’t just irritate you, it will piss you off. No matter how you approach it–as a nerd, as a romantic, as a writer–it is guaranteed to both disappoint and disgust you. Do not, and I repeat, do not waste your time with it.

Why You SHOULD Be Watching Agents Of SHIELD!

Greetings Loved Ones! Liu Is The Name, And Views Are My Game.

Remember how yesterday I uploaded a review of Joss Whedon’s Agents Of SHIELD, and all I could do was list the show’s weaker qualities? Well, you can officially disregard everything I said, because I kept watching it today, and man, oh man, did it get better! It’s still witty, still well-acted, and without giving away too much, let me just say that the writers did a good job of giving certain characters more depth and back-story than I had previously expected, and threw in a couple of curve balls, including a certain romantic pair up, that I would never have seen coming. True, non comic book fans and people who have never seen the other Marvel movies will still be in the dark on certain things, but honestly, having seen these last few episodes, I feel a lot less hesitant to recommend this show to people. That is why I am officially updating my score for this series to 8 out of 10. It’s super exciting, super fun, and it only gets better as time passes. Check it out!

Should You Be Watching Agents of SHIELD?

Greetings Loved Ones! Liu Is The Name, And Views Are My Game.

 

Loved ones, I have a confession to make. I…am a nerd. There! I said it. I’m a nerd. And not just a little one, mind you. A HUGE one. I read comic books and manga, watch anime, write fan-fiction, go to comic-con, and wait in line to see whatever new superhero movie is out. One of my all-time goals as a Screenwriter is to write and produce my own original Superhero movie, and to make an adaptation of Batman set in Red China. Just about the only thing I haven’t yet done is Cosplay, and honestly, these days I’m starting to give it some serious consideration.

 

Anyway, the reason I’ve confessed my geekdom to you all is to help you understand why I recently started watching Agents of SHIELD. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a Superhero/Espionage series that aired on ABC in 2013, and has continued running up to the present. Based on the Marvel Comics spy agency SHIELD (which either is an acronym for Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division, or Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division), the series focuses on a team of six agents traveling around the world, fighting crime, and solving mysteries, all against the backdrop of such Superhero movies as Iron Man, Thor, and The Avengers, with frequent references made throughout the series to the latter picture. It’s simple, but highly entertaining. Too many shows start off with a great general premise, but then get bogged down with too much over-arching plot or character drama. Not this one! It is, in many ways, very much like the 1970s Western Kung-Fu, in that the only thing that remains constant about the series are the characters, who in every episode must face a new, unrelated challenge to the one’s they’ve previously encountered. It’s well-acted and well-written, with some truly funny dialogue in it, and better yet, it’s directed by Joss Whedon. For those of you who don’t know who he is, he’s widely referred to as the Feminist God of the Geeks. He created and wrote for a number of highly successful action/sci-fi series in the late 90s and early 2000s, such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, and more recently, has worked on films like The Cabin In The Woods and The Avengers. He’s known for writing strong, well-rounded female characters , and stories that focus on diverse groups working together and achieving great things. Basically, he’s the kind of writer I aspire to be.

 

But, I digress, as much as I enjoy this series, and as many merits as I see in its craft, I do still have some problems with it. First of all, if you’re not a geek, there’s going to be a lot that you won’t understand. The show is banking on the fact that its viewers have seen the other movies in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, specifically The Avengers. Not only does it make frequent reference to these other works, in many cases, characters or plot elements from those movies actually play a part in some episodes. So, if you’re new to Marvel or the whole Superhero/Comic Book mythology, I’m sorry, but you probably shouldn’t watch this. Also, unlike other Joss Whedon projects, which usually have some kind of underlying message, like teamwork or open-mindedness, this series has none. It’s just pure escapism. And lastly, as hard as the writers of this show have tried to give each of their characters depth and personality, the characters themselves are still pretty cliched. There’s Agent Phil Coulson, who appeared in many of the other Marvel movies, and who acts as the tough, but tender-hearted leader. There’s Agent Grant Ward, the stereotypical pretty-boy spy. There’s the hacker Skye, who’s obviously just there to be Ward’s love interest. There’s the Scotsman Fitz, and the Englishwoman Simmons, who both serve as the series’ nerdy comic relief. And finally, there’s Agent Melinda May, who, I’m sad to say this but, is clearly just a female version of Bruce Lee’s character Kato in The Green Hornet, in that she’s the stoic Asian driver who dresses in black and knows Kung-Fu. Seriously. That’s all she does. She’s given the least amount of personality, and dialogue, out of any of the main characters, and when she does say something, her sentences are short and clipped, and she rarely emotes. As both a Chinese-American and a hardcore Feminist, I was truly saddened to see this stereotypical role for an Asian woman, especially in a Joss Whedon production. This character is just more evidence that people in the entertainment industry are completely okay with typecasting Asian people, and exploiting Asian stereotypes. If you don’t believe me, then ask yourself: when was the last time that you saw a movie or show where the Asian men weren’t Kung-Fu masters or wimpy nerds, and the Asian women weren’t demure, butterfly girlfriends or Dragon-Lady Assassins? As both a writer, and an actor who experienced a great deal of typecasting, I would love to write stories with strong, well-rounded, and most importantly, non-stereotypical roles for people of color, particularly women, and if there are any women out there who have comments or would like to give me advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

But, alas, I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to the show! In spite of all its flaws, I still really like it and would give it an overall rating of 7 out of 10. It’s witty, well-acted, and just entertaining enough to get you to overlook its weaker aspects. Plus, I like the fact that there are an equal number of men and women in the lead, and that there isn’t one main protagonist. And as much as I dislike the character of Melinda May, I was both pleased and impressed with Whedon’s decision to cast Ming Na Wen of The Joy Luck Club, Mulan, and ER in the role. Why? Because, despite the fact that Ms. Wen is extremely talented and still very beautiful, she’s now well into her fifties, and these days it is extremely rare for a TV show, much less an action series, to cast a middle-aged woman as one of the leads. So, in conclusion, if you’re a fan of the Marvel Universe, or are simply willing to go back and watch a bunch of movies before you see this show, I guarantee you that you’ll enjoy yourself. You’ll laugh, cheer, and be hanging on the edge of your seat, hoping for the Agents of SHIELD to prevail.