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The Unusuals
Just watched ALL of The Unusuals in one sitting with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
inmyriadbits. Actually, I'd already seen the first five, but um....Jeremy Renner's face? I have no excuses. And I've been a fan of Amber Tamblyn's for many years, so I was pretty confident I'd enjoy the show.
I did really enjoy it! I was impressed by how much I loved all the characters, despite not liking some of them most of the time. Who would have guessed Alvarez would turn out to be so sympathetic? However, I was super annoyed by Delahoy and Cole's drama with the tumor and Frank respectively, which boiled down to them being STUPID and keeping secrets that put people in danger, despite having people they could emphatically trust on their side. *shakes them*
However, I'm not terribly surprised it was canceled. The writing was very uneven in terms of balancing A and B plots, and the comedy frequently did not work for me (mostly in the non-Walsh & Casey threads). The show reminded me a lot of early S1 Life in that way, but Life had the strong conspiracy plot arc, a lot more subtlety, and wasn't trying to be an ensemble comedy in addition to the drama. The quirky indie music soundtrack and lots of location shooting also helped with that comparison.
Plus, Life got renewed and they had time to smooth things out. Sorry, Unusuals.
I ADORED Walsh and Casey. They were hilarious and sweet, though neither would ever admit to the latter. Renner made even the off scenes stand up and do tricks for him, Tamblyn is an amazing comedienne, and they had great chemistry and all of the best writing, both comic and dramatic. And they felt very real, you know? 3D relationships with all the other cast members, genuine differences of opinion and perspectives, and were portrayed as really good people who occasionally screwed up. Walsh's ongoing love affair with secrets and second chances was fascinating, as well.
I deeply appreciated how many times we got to see Walsh shirtless and/or in tight t-shirts. And suits. And gorgeous wool overcoats. God, he's pretty on this show.
Beaumont was amazing, and her relationship with Walsh was adorable without undercutting her BAMFery in any way. I wish we'd gotten more of her and Cole being an odd couple early in the season instead of the boring Frank storyline, but they had some great scenes, like when she tells him he's a good person, or when he tells her Walsh likes her, or the couples counseling hilarity. ♥
Banks and Delahoy had some great scenes and were so incredibly married, but were voted the partnership most likely to annoy me with their storyline and/or being stupid and/or doing cop things of dubious legality. The serial cat murderer? The murder store? The senior on the crime spree? Okay, the zombie ep was fun, but then the psychic storyline in the ep where Beaumont got shot? Totally worthless. I actually skipped all those scenes on my first watch because I was running late, and I didn't really need them when watching the full ep. And Delahoy was driving me crazy with all the hallucinations and STILL not getting help. Christ, ya think you might be endangering people like that, genius? ARGH.
Sgt. Brown was entertaining and a classic grumpy boss, but I wish we'd gotten the story behind his spacesuit and all the NASA stuff in his office. Ah, well.
Casey and Davis were really charming, and I liked how they worked through things that came up. I'm actually in a weird place where I really like Casey/Davis and Walsh/Beaumont, but am also really interested in seeing Casey/Walsh. I could go either way: they are awesome as bros, but would be fascinating in a relationship. There goes another Yuletide fandom for this year!
[I actually can't get the idea out of my head for an Avengers crossover where Walsh turns out to be Barney Barton. Secrets and lies! Estranged brothers! Tony Stark and Casey snarking it out as rich kids turned public protectors! There's totally a story there, even though I am normally annoyed by this-character-is-secretly-another-character-because-they-were-played-by-the-same-actor stories, like how people keep writing a bajillion Brandt=Clint fics in MI4 fandom.]
In conclusion, very fun and short watch, with excellent Jeremy Renner and a strong ensemble, if somewhat wobbly on the writing. If you do watch, make sure to track down the 10th episode, which is on Hulu but NOT on Netflix.
inmyriadbits. Actually, I'd already seen the first five, but um....Jeremy Renner's face? I have no excuses. And I've been a fan of Amber Tamblyn's for many years, so I was pretty confident I'd enjoy the show.I did really enjoy it! I was impressed by how much I loved all the characters, despite not liking some of them most of the time. Who would have guessed Alvarez would turn out to be so sympathetic? However, I was super annoyed by Delahoy and Cole's drama with the tumor and Frank respectively, which boiled down to them being STUPID and keeping secrets that put people in danger, despite having people they could emphatically trust on their side. *shakes them*
However, I'm not terribly surprised it was canceled. The writing was very uneven in terms of balancing A and B plots, and the comedy frequently did not work for me (mostly in the non-Walsh & Casey threads). The show reminded me a lot of early S1 Life in that way, but Life had the strong conspiracy plot arc, a lot more subtlety, and wasn't trying to be an ensemble comedy in addition to the drama. The quirky indie music soundtrack and lots of location shooting also helped with that comparison.
Plus, Life got renewed and they had time to smooth things out. Sorry, Unusuals.
I ADORED Walsh and Casey. They were hilarious and sweet, though neither would ever admit to the latter. Renner made even the off scenes stand up and do tricks for him, Tamblyn is an amazing comedienne, and they had great chemistry and all of the best writing, both comic and dramatic. And they felt very real, you know? 3D relationships with all the other cast members, genuine differences of opinion and perspectives, and were portrayed as really good people who occasionally screwed up. Walsh's ongoing love affair with secrets and second chances was fascinating, as well.
I deeply appreciated how many times we got to see Walsh shirtless and/or in tight t-shirts. And suits. And gorgeous wool overcoats. God, he's pretty on this show.
Beaumont was amazing, and her relationship with Walsh was adorable without undercutting her BAMFery in any way. I wish we'd gotten more of her and Cole being an odd couple early in the season instead of the boring Frank storyline, but they had some great scenes, like when she tells him he's a good person, or when he tells her Walsh likes her, or the couples counseling hilarity. ♥
Banks and Delahoy had some great scenes and were so incredibly married, but were voted the partnership most likely to annoy me with their storyline and/or being stupid and/or doing cop things of dubious legality. The serial cat murderer? The murder store? The senior on the crime spree? Okay, the zombie ep was fun, but then the psychic storyline in the ep where Beaumont got shot? Totally worthless. I actually skipped all those scenes on my first watch because I was running late, and I didn't really need them when watching the full ep. And Delahoy was driving me crazy with all the hallucinations and STILL not getting help. Christ, ya think you might be endangering people like that, genius? ARGH.
Sgt. Brown was entertaining and a classic grumpy boss, but I wish we'd gotten the story behind his spacesuit and all the NASA stuff in his office. Ah, well.
Casey and Davis were really charming, and I liked how they worked through things that came up. I'm actually in a weird place where I really like Casey/Davis and Walsh/Beaumont, but am also really interested in seeing Casey/Walsh. I could go either way: they are awesome as bros, but would be fascinating in a relationship. There goes another Yuletide fandom for this year!
[I actually can't get the idea out of my head for an Avengers crossover where Walsh turns out to be Barney Barton. Secrets and lies! Estranged brothers! Tony Stark and Casey snarking it out as rich kids turned public protectors! There's totally a story there, even though I am normally annoyed by this-character-is-secretly-another-character-because-they-were-played-by-the-same-actor stories, like how people keep writing a bajillion Brandt=Clint fics in MI4 fandom.]
In conclusion, very fun and short watch, with excellent Jeremy Renner and a strong ensemble, if somewhat wobbly on the writing. If you do watch, make sure to track down the 10th episode, which is on Hulu but NOT on Netflix.
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I have read ALL the Unusuals fic on AO3 now, alas. Did you read Lies to Buy Myself Some Time? It's Casey/Walsh, idk if you like that, but it has hands down the best Walsh voice I've read.