Life in the Background

…You’re seriously going there? Ok, let’s get this straight. I’ve seen Rum and Zelena in each other’s company from time to time, usually because she won’t leave him alone. And he never looks anything other than desperate to be as far away from her as possible, to the point of sometimes leaving the diner outright the moment she comes in, and not even staying to get his change from the bill. By the same token…I hate to break it to you, but we at the diner knew about him and Miss French long before they attended anything together. May I remind you that Mrs Lucas’ granddaughter works at the studios, and says that Gold and Belle have been mooning after each other since at least series 2. And I’ve seen them in here on dates a couple of times, and let me tell you, if there’s one thing this line of work teaches you, it’s how to people-watch properly, and when two people come into a diner barely able to look away from each other, and staring at each other like they’re the sun, moon and stars all rolled into one, it’s generally a pretty safe bet that there’s either something going on, or one of them wants there to be.

...You're seriously going there? Ok, let's get this straight. I've seen Rum and Zelena in each other's company from time to time, usually because she won't leave him alone. And he never looks anything other than desperate to be as far away from her as possible, to the point of sometimes leaving the diner outright the moment she comes in, and not even staying to get his change from the bill. By the same token...I hate to break it to you, but we at the diner knew about him and Miss French long before they attended anything together. May I remind you that Mrs Lucas' granddaughter works at the studios, and says that Gold and Belle have been mooning after each other since at least series 2. And I've seen them in here on dates a couple of times, and let me tell you, if there's one thing this line of work teaches you, it's how to people-watch properly, and when two people come into a diner barely able to look away from each other, and staring at each other like they're the sun, moon and stars all rolled into one, it's generally a pretty safe bet that there's either something going on, or one of them wants there to be.

Has everyone seen what happened behind the scenes on the Star Force set yet? Graham’s tweets encompass the situation completely- I thought Zelena couldn’t get any worse than how she’s been acting already, but apparently I was wrong. Rum deserves better than to be treated like that by anyone. Can we get her sued for sexual harassment or something? Or a restraining order?

Well, it’s Rum’s choice whether or not he’s going to press charges over what she did, but this and the rumours going ‘round about Claire Littleton might cause a big enough scandal that it becomes controversial to hire her, particularly if her co-stars and the crew spread it about just how badly she’s been treating them. So…possible legal action if Rum’s interested, possible shipwreck of her career if we can spread the word far and loud enough.

Has everyone seen what happened behind the scenes on the Star Force set yet? Graham’s tweets encompass the situation completely- I thought Zelena couldn’t get any worse than how she’s been acting already, but apparently I was wrong. Rum deserves better than to be treated like that by anyone. Can we get her sued for sexual harassment or something? Or a restraining order?

Well, it's Rum's choice whether or not he's going to press charges over what she did, but this and the rumours going 'round about Claire Littleton might cause a big enough scandal that it becomes controversial to hire her, particularly if her co-stars and the crew spread it about just how badly she's been treating them. So...possible legal action if Rum's interested, possible shipwreck of her career if we can spread the word far and loud enough.

…while I agree that Sayid is the best thing this show ever introduced me too (yeah, yeah, my mom likes it and it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure), this was one of Zelena’s first big on-screen roles, and…well…I’m trying to be nice about it, because I don’t think much of her acting abilities in any case, but she was even hammier then than she is now. I’ve seen subtler acting and more emotive characterisation on The Muppets.

I’ll admit that this was not Zelena’s best work. But the show was so awful. She had to play down to her co-stars’ abilities. The producers told her she couldn’t upstage the other talent too much (and that’s extremely difficult to do when you have the likes of Kate Austen and James Ford who are better seen and… well just seen. Don’t make them even move at all.) This show restricted Zelena’s abilities and the day her character faked her death was the best move the writers could have allowed for her career. It let her move on to the greatness that is Miss Greenie :)

Will admit, not a fan of Ford, but Austen’s not an appalling actor, even if she does end up in far too many love-triangles for my liking. But as for ‘playing down to her co-workers ability’. Sayid Jarrah certainly felt no need to do so, and her ability to do dramatic storylines hasn’t improved much since. She’s good at hammy antagonists, though - I know no other actress who has such a gift for having my whole household baying for her blood in the space of one episode.

If confronted with evidence, I might consider it. Until then, I will let Ms West’s mediocre performance speak for itself. Great strides from rock bottom is still nothing to write home about. And I loved that story arc! Ella Furrier is a genius, and if the new writers had kept up her way of doing things it would be a much better show.

What proof beyond Dudley Dursley and murder of Sawyer (Ford’s character of course) by horny circus monkeys do you need? (On the side, there were lots of outrageous deaths that occured when the circus stayed at the Hotel. Talk about overkill).

Yeah, but that's never made any of the other actors 'act down' to their costars - again, Sayid Jarrah. Or, hell, what about James Barnes? He was fucking incredible in his run, and frankly too good for this show.  I mean, the whole point of Heartbreak Hotel under Furrier was to be as ridiculously over-the-top a soap-opera parody it's possible to be, so I'm sort of in favour of both Dudley and Sawyer's ignominious death if only for sheer weirdness. (And, if half the stuff Dudley talks about in his tell-all memoir 'Fortunate Son' is accurate, it's no wonder he turned out the way he did - the real wonder is that his cousin Harry turned out all right - still really looking forward to Flight of the Heron.)