Mark Watches Commissions for Week of 5/13/13

Hello, Watchers! Starting today (and lasting until I manage to finish), Mark Watches bonus commissions will move to weekly summary/link posts. Contained inside are all the extra TV episode commissions that I watched for the week, all in a single post instead of spread out over the week. Let’s discuss!

So, without getting too personal, consider this shift in commission policy my doctor’s orders. I have health insurance now, which is a weird thought in itself because I rarely do, which means I never go to the doctor, which means I generally have no idea what’s going on with my body. Suffice it to say that my stress levels are not good for my body, and we will leave it at that. Please respect the fact that at this point, it’s not something I want to talk about publicly. Thank you!

I have a long list of Mark Watches commissions to get to, and when I started doing them, I had no idea that y’all had any interest in them. I’d get one or two a week, and then sometime earlier this year, I was getting a lot of them. In order to manage them, I decided to just do one per weekday so I wasn’t overloading myself. Now I have over thirty outstanding Mark Watches commissions to get to, and the sheer weight of that hanging over me is too much. Given that I’m now doing Double Features on the site, I’d much rather focus on the dual reviews, giving them the time and attention they need, without having to worry about the fact that I have a whole set of shows to watch and write about. I don’t know if this makes sense to any of you, but it is far less stressful to deal with things that are well-defined for me. The normal reviews are perfectly scheduled, I know how many there are, and I’m watching a show in the order it aired in. With these bonus commissions, I’m jumping around between ten different fictional worlds/casts, none of it is in order, and it stresses me out to have to deal with it.

Honestly, I took them on because I needed the money to pay for the rising costs of running this community and because I have a ridiculous amount of traveling to pay for this year for my summer tour. (I will post more on that later this week, which I am super excited about!!!) On top of that, I am desperately trying to make time to complete my first novel, and it’s proving to be yet another stressful burden for me because I haven’t been able to do more than 2-3 hours a week. So, for the time being, here’s what’s going to happen:

• I am not going to accept anymore Mark Watches commissions for shows that are not on my Confirmed List. Mark Reads is not affected by this, so you may commission away!
• Every Monday at 10am PDT, I’ll put up a post linking to all the commissions I did for that week. Because I am not sticking to a daily schedule anymore, that also means that  your commission may be done earlier than scheduled. I will update the Master Schedule and list which commissions will be in the upcoming post each Friday.
• If you would like to convert your existing Mark Watches commission to one for another show I’m writing about or something for Mark Reads, feel free to contact me. I know some folks would like a review along with their video, but I cannot sustain this day-to-day for non-regular posts. Please just let me know!
• You are also welcome to email me at any time in the future to ask me if I’d be willing to make an exception for something once I get most of these done. I am not opposed to doing more at a later date, but please don’t email me later today and ask me to add more to my plate. The answer will be a resounding no. That being said, once I get a handle on things in my life and my free time opens up, I might open these back up again.
• In case you did not read that gigantic post about what I’m doing on Mark Watches next, I am going to start a ton of shows in the next year. After Friday Night Lights, I will start Supernatural. Once The West Wing finishes up next year, I’ll tackle the entirety of Star Trek, all four shows in airing order, including the films. For Double Features, I am doing Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Veronica Mars this year.

Okay, so onwards to commissions!

Bones 3×15: “The Pain in the Heart”
Streaming/Quicktime Pro Download | Dropbox File

Highlights: Watch my confusion at one of the worst character plot twists in the world, because HOW THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE. I initially thought that maybe I missed a crucial episode, but nope. The writers honestly did not secretly plant that information at all, and now I’m really upset. Why. WHY.

Bones 4×25: “The Critic in the Cabernet”
Streaming/Quicktime Pro Download | Dropbox File

Highlights: I am largely confused by jumping so forward in season four because I’ve clearly missed a lot of things, but I manage to put most of it together! The sudden reveal of Bones’s desire for a child initially feels jarring and uncharacteristic, but the way Bones is portrayed in making the decision makes up for it because… well, Bones would approach a child with logic and reason. And she’s good with kids. And all the Family Guy stuff is so weird that I don’t even know what to say about it.

Bones 4×26: “The End in the Beginning”
Streaming/Quicktime Pro Download | Dropbox File

Highlights: Perhaps the best example of me being utterly confused about being dropped into the middle of a slightly serialized storyline because I feel like I missed the meaning of half this episode, especially since there are so many new characters. Despite that, I don’t know how I feel about this? It’s such a fucking weird episode that isn’t self-aware of how weird it is. Why are we seeing this world? What does it illuminate about the characters? Does this episode exist just to poke fun at these characters? I am definitely missing something. Also, the cliffhanger loses its steam once you realize it can’t be sustained beyond… like ten minutes.

Stargate SG-1 2×15: “A Matter of Time”
Streaming/Quicktime Pro Download | Dropbox File

Highlights: This episode and 2×16 are mislabeled, so use the links above to download/stream the videos. SORRY I MESSED THAT UP. This is a rad and unbelievably bleak/disturbing episode about a black hole fucking everything up. This is some heavy sci-fi, more intense than I’m used to on television, and I think the writers did a fine job demonstrating the absurd weirdness of time dilation. Also, do the Stargate people ever just panic? Oh my god, they are so calm during what is ostensibly one of the most frightening disasters I could imagine. But that’s military folk for you. My dad was an Army man, and he and all his buddies were just like this.

Stargate SG-1 4×16: “2010”
Streaming/Quicktime Pro Download | Dropbox File

Highlights: A super rad, self-contained story that shows us a dystopian version of the world created by the Stargate team when, against O’Neill’s warnings, they ally with a strange alien race who VERY SLOWLY plot their annihilation. So much about this episode rules! I enjoyed it a lot, most for Teal’c’s robes. He looked so good in them. Also, his biceps are fucking huge, y’all. Also, PRETTY SURE THERE ARE LIKE TEN MACGYVER REFERENCES IN THIS EPISODE.

Thanks for understanding, y’all! I’ll have another post up next Monday. Feel free to discuss these episodes below.