missizzy

Watched Blades for the Brave last night, and certainly it had some impressive performances in it; Michelle Kwan has now put it beyond dispute that even when on roller skates on asphalt for fifteen seconds or so, she's magical, and Cain-Gribble & LeDuc were beautiful too. But honestly, too much of quite a few members of the cast said just struck wrong. Scott Hamilton's segment was particularly painful, and his words rang very false indeed, especially when the ruler he supports is now inciting violence against us, and he's repeating the bullshit that noone saw this coming. In fact, I would advise skipping over a good deal of the first hour. But the last half an hour is very much another matter, especially when Denise Gold was given the chance to tell us exactly what it's like to be a nurse in the ER right now. That, perhaps, is what people really need to know.
Hell, contrast that to All Work No Play Unplugged earlier in the week. Of course since neither of them are on the front lines, Liam and Sam didn't have the kind of things to say that Denise Gold did, but at least they were real and decent, and able to remind all of us that we're not alone in in our grief and helplessness and frustration right now. It enforces what I've long thought, especially since the episode with Beau's family, that part of the reason Critical Role appeals so strongly to so many people, myself included, is that the people involved are good people with good values, and they feel no need to pander to the red states the way so much of our media does.
It's even got me finding new appreciation for other things I've loved for longer. I pulled out my old DVD of Yami no Matsuei today and watched the English dub for the first time upon discovering that Liam voiced Hisoka in it. It might not have been the original material, but he did a damn good job.