Yesterday I finished the episodes of Wonderland that are available on Hulu. Before I move on to my next Aussie shows, I want to take some time to think and blog about the each of the main Wonderland characters.
Note: This post will be of no interest to folks who don't watch Wonderland. It's unlikely you'll understand what the hell I'm talking about. If you do understand, then you're a mindreader.
So...here we go.
Miranda (Anna Bamford)-She's beautiful and adorable—definitely girl-crush material for me. She's sweet but kind of mopey. I think she has an Eeyore quality to her. I feel the star-crossed lover thing with Tom is getting a bit old. I'm hoping they don't stretch that out through the whole series. It's a bit annoying that Miranda won't even try to give things a chance. I can't really understand why she was so offended by the wedding napkin bet. It would be much worse if the goal was the opposite—for Tom to sleep with a flatmate. The napkin bet was nothing personal against Miranda. I can understand her feeling hurt about them keeping it a secret, but I think it would have been more awkward if they told her. Can you imagine moving in with someone and then being told Hey, I have a habit of sleeping with my roommate, but I've made a vow not to do that with you. Why should she be told? Well, she says she felt like she was the butt of a joke. But even without the bet, it would have been that way. All the Wonderland people would have been wondering when Tom would sleep with her.
Oh yeah. Wait. Miranda was also upset, because she didn't like that Tom's car was more important to him than her. I don't see a problem with that at all. Yes, it would be awful, in a life and death situation, if Tom chose to save the car instead of Miranda. But I think there's nothing wrong in choosing a beloved inanimate object over a person you find yourself slightly attracted to. Later Tom's feelings for Amanda turn into love and then he is ready to choose her over the car.
Wow. Shit. I didn't plan to write so much about one character. This post may be a novel.
Tom (Michael Dorman). I love this guy. I have nothing bad to say about him. He's wonderful to Miranda. He's wonderful to his parents. He's great with his friends. I guess the worst I can say about him is, he might be nice to the point of being a doormat.
For example, in the first episode with the public proposal at the wedding. If that happened to me..I'd feel very bad about hurting the person proposing to me. But I'd also be angry at them for doing that. I would see myself as being one of the victims, not the villain. Tom seems to see himself as being the one who's to blame. He's so apologetic to Kristen, and when his friends give him a hard time about his relationship with her and past relationships, he takes full responsibility. He never argues. He never tries to say it's not his fault. Or at least not that I can remember.
Yes, Tom has a habit of sleeping with his flatmates. But I don't think he's a womanizer. From what was said on the show, he falls in love (maybe lust) with this flatmates. It's the proximity thing. I think he mentions something about seeing them in his kitchen, and then he's a goner. It's just Tom doesn't want commitment...at least not at that point. Later in the series, he warms up to the idea. He starts to realize that maybe commitment is a good thing if you're with the right person.
In the second season, Tom did do a few weeks of prolific dating. But he wasn't using women for sex. He was dating all these women in order to get himself over Miranda. He was hoping to find someone new. I think that's fine...although maybe a bit hectic. Well, maybe it's a little unfair to the women he was dating in those weeks, but it's not as if he led them on for several weeks. It was just one or two dates.
Colette (Emma Lung): I love her dresses. I don't have much to say about her. Or maybe it's just that I'm already tired out from Tom and Miranda. I do hope she ends up back with Rob. Yes, it was naughty of her to cheat on him with the barista, but she didn't deserve all the grief she received. Personally, I don't think one act of infidelity needs to lead to divorce or separation.
I think one of Colette's best scenes is the one where she visits her in-laws house, and they're so unwelcoming towards her. I could feel her pain. My in-laws are much nicer to me than Colette's in-laws are to her, but sometimes I do feel invisible around them. Or there's that general feeling. We love Tim, and we love Jack, of course. And yeah. I guess it's okay that you're here too.
Maggie (Tracy Mann). I love Maggie's relationship to Tom, her son. This is because I'm the mother of an only son. We've always had a close and wonderful relationship; and I worry sometimes that things will end up going sour. It's nice to see a relationship between an adult man and his mother that's positive. It's a good antidote to what we're seeing on Bates Motel and what I saw recently on American Horror Story: Coven.
I love that Maggie lives in the same building as her son and has a nice relationship with him and his friends. Yet she's not creepy and overbearing about it. Then again, maybe Tom takes a lot of credit for that. He welcomes his mom into his life. Though I have vague memories of him maybe one day complaining about it? Did he ask her to back off at one point? I'm not sure. I do know Warwick, Maggie's husband, gives her a hard time about it—accuses her of trying to feel young by hanging out with Tom and his friends. I can't remember if Tom himself ever had a problem with it.
Carlos (Glen McMillan). Gorgeous. Let's just leave it at that.
No, I'm joking. I have more to say.
I like when he yells at the biker for insulting his girlfriend but then he goes too far and throws the bike down the hill. I like that he gets jealous, but he takes it a bit too far at times. Then again, he ended up having good reason to be jealous of Nick. He isn't just imagining things or blowing things out of proportion. He sees Nick and Grace together and knows his days with Grace are numbered.
Recently I was thinking how Carlos and Grace's relationship is so uneven. He loves her much more than she ever loved him. Wouldn't it be better for Carlos to be with someone who loves him as much as he loves her? And it seems it would be easy for him to find that woman. I think women would be lining up for Carlos. But then I wondered if perhaps Carlos needs to be in a relationship where he's loved less. Maybe there's some kind of thrill in that...a chase type thing? Or it could be a matter of the heart wanting what the heart wants. Sometimes we love someone who loves us much less. Or doesn't love us at all! We tell ourselves we deserve better, but our heart doesn't listen.
Rob (Ben Mingay). He looks part Aboriginal to me. I've tried to find out if Mingay has an indigenous background, but I haven't found anything. Either I'm wrong or it's not something he heavily publicizes.
I like Rob, though, I wish he didn't give Colette such a hard time. The boat wedding episode is so sad. I felt horrible for both Rob and Colette. I can totally understand why Rob is jealous of the barista and thought Colette was still having a fling with him. But I wish he had just been upfront and asked Colette what was happening. That being said, I would have likely done the same thing as him. If you have trust issues with someone, how can you ask them to give you an honest answer to your questions and accusations?
A part of me wonders if Rob is less upset about Colette cheating on him because he feels betrayed, and whether he is more mad that she got to sleep with someone else and he didn't. I mean, on a conscious level, I think he imagines himself betrayed. But maybe he allows himself to feel so much anger and anguish, because that gives him the excuse to break up with her and sleep with someone else. He just seems so eager to break up and jump back on the saddle. Then once he does that, he's ready to forgive and get back together with Colette.
Steve (Tim Beaumont). He's probably my least favorite (leading) man on the show. I mean not that I don't like Beaumont's acting or I find Steve boring. I just mean I think he's the one who does the worst things. Though he is very supportive and sweet with Dani when it comes to her family problems. I do like that about him.
The things I don't like?
Well, I think he's a complete ass to his best friend and his sister. It's awful that he tells Tom he's not allowed to date Miranda. Maybe in the beginning it's okay, because Tom has a reputation of not being able to commit. Why not just tell Miranda that? Why not say, Hey sis. I think you and Tom like each other. And that's fine. But just be warned that Tom has a problem with committing. He might end up hurting you. But to sit there and forbid a relationship, because he's afraid it won't work out and then he'll lose Tom as a friend? It just seems very selfish to me.
Then there's that thing of Steve accepting a job in Singapore without first consulting his wife. Wow. That's another very selfish act. I understand him wanting to take the job. It's a great position for him. And if he talked to Dani about it, it would have been very nice of her to agree to go to Singapore. It would be very supportive of her; though not a definite obligation, because like she said, she has a job and life too. She shouldn't be required to sacrifice all that. If she wants to make the sacrifice, that's very wonderful and noble of her, but it shouldn't be expected. So poo on Steve for his behavior there.
Grace (Brooke Satchwell) She's beautiful and very muscular. She often looks like she's crying. I don't know if that's how her face just works or if she's very emotional.
I get annoyed at her for not loving Carlos more but then I realize I'm being unfair. Sometimes I wonder if she loves him at all. She says she does, but I don't really feel it. I wonder if she has some lust for him, and the rest is pressure by him and their friends to love him back.
Dani (Jessica Tovey)-I think I started liking Dani more once she took the sanitation job. It's a nice twist to her character. I think her best storyline is the one involving her parents. It's awful that her father manipulated her into hating her mother. He's such a jerk. I'm very glad Dani finally got over her misplaced anger. Or at least she's mostly over it.
Harry (Michael Booth). The guy is totally lovable. I'm probably a fan, because, like him, I enjoy finding treasures at thrift stores. Well, I mostly just find clothes. But I think it would be cool to have a house decorated with stuff found at garage sales and second hand shops.
Harry seems to be very nice and intelligent but somewhat socially awkward. It bothers me that he's treated as a second class citizen. It's like he's desexualized. At one point, one character asks another if Grace is dating Harry...since they're roommates. The character is told she'll laugh at her question once she meets Harry. Why? He's not a dog. He's a human being. Why couldn't Grace be dating him?
Then there's the fact that Harry isn't included in the whole FAT night thing. There's a scene where he asks Grace if he can have some leftover soup from the dinner party. It made me sad that he has to ask and it isn't just offered to him. And Grace almost sounds somewhat reluctant, like he isn't good enough for the soup. First of all, I think it would have been nice to invite him to FAT night. And if not that, she should have offered the soup to him. He shouldn't have to ask.
I think I might feel differently about Harry if he had his own set of friends. But that doesn't seem like this is the case. He seems quite lonely. He's not a bad person, so why not include him in the circle of friends?
Really. I just want to reach into the TV world and give him a huge hug.
I do think, though, that he might be more handsome if he shaved off that beard. It doesn't matter, though. You shouldn't have to be overly attractive to be included in a group of friends.
Warwick (Peter Phelps). I don't have much to say about him; except that he....
I'm trying to think of way to explain this.
It's like he looks like a grown-up child star. Does that make any sense? No, it doesn't. I'm failing here.
Let me try again. It's like he's a little boy who's been magically suddenly turned into a man.
Or I can still see the little boy in him. I can see his inner child. Or I imagine that I do?
Do you understand me? Probably not. Just nod and pretend you do.
Read my online novel: The Dead are Online
Note: This post will be of no interest to folks who don't watch Wonderland. It's unlikely you'll understand what the hell I'm talking about. If you do understand, then you're a mindreader.
So...here we go.
Miranda (Anna Bamford)-She's beautiful and adorable—definitely girl-crush material for me. She's sweet but kind of mopey. I think she has an Eeyore quality to her. I feel the star-crossed lover thing with Tom is getting a bit old. I'm hoping they don't stretch that out through the whole series. It's a bit annoying that Miranda won't even try to give things a chance. I can't really understand why she was so offended by the wedding napkin bet. It would be much worse if the goal was the opposite—for Tom to sleep with a flatmate. The napkin bet was nothing personal against Miranda. I can understand her feeling hurt about them keeping it a secret, but I think it would have been more awkward if they told her. Can you imagine moving in with someone and then being told Hey, I have a habit of sleeping with my roommate, but I've made a vow not to do that with you. Why should she be told? Well, she says she felt like she was the butt of a joke. But even without the bet, it would have been that way. All the Wonderland people would have been wondering when Tom would sleep with her.
Oh yeah. Wait. Miranda was also upset, because she didn't like that Tom's car was more important to him than her. I don't see a problem with that at all. Yes, it would be awful, in a life and death situation, if Tom chose to save the car instead of Miranda. But I think there's nothing wrong in choosing a beloved inanimate object over a person you find yourself slightly attracted to. Later Tom's feelings for Amanda turn into love and then he is ready to choose her over the car.
Wow. Shit. I didn't plan to write so much about one character. This post may be a novel.
Tom (Michael Dorman). I love this guy. I have nothing bad to say about him. He's wonderful to Miranda. He's wonderful to his parents. He's great with his friends. I guess the worst I can say about him is, he might be nice to the point of being a doormat.
For example, in the first episode with the public proposal at the wedding. If that happened to me..I'd feel very bad about hurting the person proposing to me. But I'd also be angry at them for doing that. I would see myself as being one of the victims, not the villain. Tom seems to see himself as being the one who's to blame. He's so apologetic to Kristen, and when his friends give him a hard time about his relationship with her and past relationships, he takes full responsibility. He never argues. He never tries to say it's not his fault. Or at least not that I can remember.
Yes, Tom has a habit of sleeping with his flatmates. But I don't think he's a womanizer. From what was said on the show, he falls in love (maybe lust) with this flatmates. It's the proximity thing. I think he mentions something about seeing them in his kitchen, and then he's a goner. It's just Tom doesn't want commitment...at least not at that point. Later in the series, he warms up to the idea. He starts to realize that maybe commitment is a good thing if you're with the right person.
In the second season, Tom did do a few weeks of prolific dating. But he wasn't using women for sex. He was dating all these women in order to get himself over Miranda. He was hoping to find someone new. I think that's fine...although maybe a bit hectic. Well, maybe it's a little unfair to the women he was dating in those weeks, but it's not as if he led them on for several weeks. It was just one or two dates.
Colette (Emma Lung): I love her dresses. I don't have much to say about her. Or maybe it's just that I'm already tired out from Tom and Miranda. I do hope she ends up back with Rob. Yes, it was naughty of her to cheat on him with the barista, but she didn't deserve all the grief she received. Personally, I don't think one act of infidelity needs to lead to divorce or separation.
I think one of Colette's best scenes is the one where she visits her in-laws house, and they're so unwelcoming towards her. I could feel her pain. My in-laws are much nicer to me than Colette's in-laws are to her, but sometimes I do feel invisible around them. Or there's that general feeling. We love Tim, and we love Jack, of course. And yeah. I guess it's okay that you're here too.
Maggie (Tracy Mann). I love Maggie's relationship to Tom, her son. This is because I'm the mother of an only son. We've always had a close and wonderful relationship; and I worry sometimes that things will end up going sour. It's nice to see a relationship between an adult man and his mother that's positive. It's a good antidote to what we're seeing on Bates Motel and what I saw recently on American Horror Story: Coven.
I love that Maggie lives in the same building as her son and has a nice relationship with him and his friends. Yet she's not creepy and overbearing about it. Then again, maybe Tom takes a lot of credit for that. He welcomes his mom into his life. Though I have vague memories of him maybe one day complaining about it? Did he ask her to back off at one point? I'm not sure. I do know Warwick, Maggie's husband, gives her a hard time about it—accuses her of trying to feel young by hanging out with Tom and his friends. I can't remember if Tom himself ever had a problem with it.
Carlos (Glen McMillan). Gorgeous. Let's just leave it at that.
No, I'm joking. I have more to say.
I like when he yells at the biker for insulting his girlfriend but then he goes too far and throws the bike down the hill. I like that he gets jealous, but he takes it a bit too far at times. Then again, he ended up having good reason to be jealous of Nick. He isn't just imagining things or blowing things out of proportion. He sees Nick and Grace together and knows his days with Grace are numbered.
Recently I was thinking how Carlos and Grace's relationship is so uneven. He loves her much more than she ever loved him. Wouldn't it be better for Carlos to be with someone who loves him as much as he loves her? And it seems it would be easy for him to find that woman. I think women would be lining up for Carlos. But then I wondered if perhaps Carlos needs to be in a relationship where he's loved less. Maybe there's some kind of thrill in that...a chase type thing? Or it could be a matter of the heart wanting what the heart wants. Sometimes we love someone who loves us much less. Or doesn't love us at all! We tell ourselves we deserve better, but our heart doesn't listen.
Rob (Ben Mingay). He looks part Aboriginal to me. I've tried to find out if Mingay has an indigenous background, but I haven't found anything. Either I'm wrong or it's not something he heavily publicizes.
I like Rob, though, I wish he didn't give Colette such a hard time. The boat wedding episode is so sad. I felt horrible for both Rob and Colette. I can totally understand why Rob is jealous of the barista and thought Colette was still having a fling with him. But I wish he had just been upfront and asked Colette what was happening. That being said, I would have likely done the same thing as him. If you have trust issues with someone, how can you ask them to give you an honest answer to your questions and accusations?
A part of me wonders if Rob is less upset about Colette cheating on him because he feels betrayed, and whether he is more mad that she got to sleep with someone else and he didn't. I mean, on a conscious level, I think he imagines himself betrayed. But maybe he allows himself to feel so much anger and anguish, because that gives him the excuse to break up with her and sleep with someone else. He just seems so eager to break up and jump back on the saddle. Then once he does that, he's ready to forgive and get back together with Colette.
Steve (Tim Beaumont). He's probably my least favorite (leading) man on the show. I mean not that I don't like Beaumont's acting or I find Steve boring. I just mean I think he's the one who does the worst things. Though he is very supportive and sweet with Dani when it comes to her family problems. I do like that about him.
The things I don't like?
Well, I think he's a complete ass to his best friend and his sister. It's awful that he tells Tom he's not allowed to date Miranda. Maybe in the beginning it's okay, because Tom has a reputation of not being able to commit. Why not just tell Miranda that? Why not say, Hey sis. I think you and Tom like each other. And that's fine. But just be warned that Tom has a problem with committing. He might end up hurting you. But to sit there and forbid a relationship, because he's afraid it won't work out and then he'll lose Tom as a friend? It just seems very selfish to me.
Then there's that thing of Steve accepting a job in Singapore without first consulting his wife. Wow. That's another very selfish act. I understand him wanting to take the job. It's a great position for him. And if he talked to Dani about it, it would have been very nice of her to agree to go to Singapore. It would be very supportive of her; though not a definite obligation, because like she said, she has a job and life too. She shouldn't be required to sacrifice all that. If she wants to make the sacrifice, that's very wonderful and noble of her, but it shouldn't be expected. So poo on Steve for his behavior there.
Grace (Brooke Satchwell) She's beautiful and very muscular. She often looks like she's crying. I don't know if that's how her face just works or if she's very emotional.
I get annoyed at her for not loving Carlos more but then I realize I'm being unfair. Sometimes I wonder if she loves him at all. She says she does, but I don't really feel it. I wonder if she has some lust for him, and the rest is pressure by him and their friends to love him back.
Dani (Jessica Tovey)-I think I started liking Dani more once she took the sanitation job. It's a nice twist to her character. I think her best storyline is the one involving her parents. It's awful that her father manipulated her into hating her mother. He's such a jerk. I'm very glad Dani finally got over her misplaced anger. Or at least she's mostly over it.
Harry (Michael Booth). The guy is totally lovable. I'm probably a fan, because, like him, I enjoy finding treasures at thrift stores. Well, I mostly just find clothes. But I think it would be cool to have a house decorated with stuff found at garage sales and second hand shops.
Harry seems to be very nice and intelligent but somewhat socially awkward. It bothers me that he's treated as a second class citizen. It's like he's desexualized. At one point, one character asks another if Grace is dating Harry...since they're roommates. The character is told she'll laugh at her question once she meets Harry. Why? He's not a dog. He's a human being. Why couldn't Grace be dating him?
Then there's the fact that Harry isn't included in the whole FAT night thing. There's a scene where he asks Grace if he can have some leftover soup from the dinner party. It made me sad that he has to ask and it isn't just offered to him. And Grace almost sounds somewhat reluctant, like he isn't good enough for the soup. First of all, I think it would have been nice to invite him to FAT night. And if not that, she should have offered the soup to him. He shouldn't have to ask.
I think I might feel differently about Harry if he had his own set of friends. But that doesn't seem like this is the case. He seems quite lonely. He's not a bad person, so why not include him in the circle of friends?
Really. I just want to reach into the TV world and give him a huge hug.
I do think, though, that he might be more handsome if he shaved off that beard. It doesn't matter, though. You shouldn't have to be overly attractive to be included in a group of friends.
Warwick (Peter Phelps). I don't have much to say about him; except that he....
I'm trying to think of way to explain this.
It's like he looks like a grown-up child star. Does that make any sense? No, it doesn't. I'm failing here.
Let me try again. It's like he's a little boy who's been magically suddenly turned into a man.
Or I can still see the little boy in him. I can see his inner child. Or I imagine that I do?
Do you understand me? Probably not. Just nod and pretend you do.
Read my online novel: The Dead are Online