Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (3/5)

However, how this translates into a refugee crisis and a shifting of borders doesn't make sense, and the show never takes the time to explain how it does. In fact, what we see on the show contradicts the notion of borders shifting because every map we see, whether it be of Europe, or the border of Libya/Tunisia, seems to be the same as in our world. Every flag we see for the GRC is a real-world flag, and if Madripor is a new nation that sprung up, that's never explained. I mean, I get why the show went this route (refugees are a real-world issue), but it doesn't work via analogy, and it doesn't work in-universe.
I guess this is a thing of them not wanting to literally rewrite the world in their fictional show. So, for visual purposes, you leave all the borders the same, so that when you toss up a 2 second graphic of a globe, everyone gets the information that you wanted them to get anyway (this is X country). If you suddenly redraw all the lines, it makes showing the audience a map of the world, a very confusing thing, that frankly will take up too much time in your show.

As to how it would be a refugee crisis, honestly that I find totally believable. If 50% of the population just vanished in a second, the complete breakdown of most infrastructure, globally, would strand lots of people. They would find themselves in an area that is completely incapable of sustaining them, because there is no way to provide the resources, to the people in question. Industries would start to break down within days, without regular maintenance, infrastructure like roads and pipes would start having problems. There was actually a show I recall seeing many years ago, on either History Channel (before it was pseudoscience BS), or Discovery, about what would happen to the world if humans just vanished. And it was basically "The Snap" but 100% instead of 50%. And a LOT of chaotic shit would happen within the first few days/weeks, without constant upkeep. So the idea that a massive humanitarian problem would arise, as the population contracted and reconsolidated, and had to abandon entire regions of the world, leaving them in ruin for 5 years, seems entirely plausible to me. And then, having all of those people dumped back onto society 5 years later, would cause huge problems.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gorfias

Hawki

Elite Member
Legacy
Mar 4, 2014
9,651
2,173
118
Country
Australia
Gender
Male
I guess this is a thing of them not wanting to literally rewrite the world in their fictional show. So, for visual purposes, you leave all the borders the same, so that when you toss up a 2 second graphic of a globe, everyone gets the information that you wanted them to get anyway (this is X country). If you suddenly redraw all the lines, it makes showing the audience a map of the world, a very confusing thing, that frankly will take up too much time in your show.
The MCU's already in a state where it more or less is its own fictional universe though. Even that aside, if I describe a world where borders were redrawn, then show the world where all the borders are the same, there's been a failure of storytelling regardless.

As to how it would be a refugee crisis, honestly that I find totally believable. If 50% of the population just vanished in a second, the complete breakdown of most infrastructure, globally, would strand lots of people. They would find themselves in an area that is completely incapable of sustaining them, because there is no way to provide the resources, to the people in question. Industries would start to break down within days, without regular maintenance, infrastructure like roads and pipes would start having problems. There was actually a show I recall seeing many years ago, on either History Channel (before it was pseudoscience BS), or Discovery, about what would happen to the world if humans just vanished. And it was basically "The Snap" but 100% instead of 50%. And a LOT of chaotic shit would happen within the first few days/weeks, without constant upkeep. So the idea that a massive humanitarian problem would arise, as the population contracted and reconsolidated, and had to abandon entire regions of the world, leaving them in ruin for 5 years, seems entirely plausible to me. And then, having all of those people dumped back onto society 5 years later, would cause huge problems.
All those problems would occur, but they're problems that would occur within nations, not between nations. Assuming every region on Earth suffers 50% population loss, then every region is in the same boat. Maybe some areas are hit harder than others, but nothing in the show (or anything else) has demonstrated that.

Now, I know why the show did the refugee thing, it's because right now, there's more refugees in the world than at any point since WWII, and it wants to be topical. Unfortunately, it doesn't sync with the in-universe mechanics. And if we assume that things are particuarly bad in Europe (since that's where most of the Flag Smasher attacks took place), then if it's relying on the real world, we're at a crossroads, since movement within the EU is pretty easy. Entering the EU is another matter, but within it? Not so much. If that isn't the case anymore, or was never the case, again, the show doesn't demonstrate this.
 

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
Legacy
Feb 9, 2012
18,465
3,005
118
The Office, season 7

The end of The Office. Yes, the show went on under the same name for two more seasons after Carell left but who cares? He was the linchpin of the show, and season 7 is dedicated to sending him off in a way that is satisfying but also kinda depressing. To the people watching at the time it was already well known that Carell was leaving by the end, and so most storylines had an air of denial or delusion to them. Why care or invest yourself on anything? Michael was out.

And I hate Holly Flax. It fell on the character to basically Yoko Ono Michael from The Office, no hate on the actress, but I never liked Holly. 5 seconds of Jan trying to open her car door was funnier than anything Holly did in her 4 years in and out of the show. And her relationship with Michael felt rushed and really not that deserving at all. Who proposes after only couple of months to a person who only agreed to date you after an ultimatum, so you quit your job, move states and leave all these rich relationships you've cultivated over the years?

The writers afterwards tried desperately to salvage the show by throwing in all these kookie characters (DeAngelo, Nellie, California, Dwight/Jim 2.0) and scraping the bottom of the barrel for romantic subplots, but the show never recovered. They should've pulled the plug when Carell quit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Xprimentyl

Phoenixmgs

The Muse of Fate
Legacy
Apr 3, 2020
8,915
782
118
w/ M'Kraan Crystal
Gender
Male
Shadow and Bone - 7/10

Pretty decent show. The love aspect get a bit too YA (young adult) at times. The 2 main characters get separated for awhile but the timeline seems off because at the same time, we're following this other group of characters and it feels like maybe weeks have gone by but then a character says it's been months since I've seen you, which just doesn't really track. Anyway, that's kinda the basis for why one of them gets mad at each other and there's a bit of a love triangle, but it doesn't ruin much of the flow for the most part. The show moves at a relatively good speed and is always cutting back and forth between different groups.
 

kikithewiz

Member
May 11, 2021
7
2
3
Country
USA
fictional series about operatives in the Israeli Secret Service and (some) Palestinians. The acting, writing, character development, and - dare I say - suspense, is mind-blowing! It’s a fictional story - repeat: fictional - meant to entertain, but it’s definitely not “propaganda.”

Co creator Lior Raz is a former counter-terrorism operator, who helped create the storyline from his own life. This article ('Fauda' co-creator and star, Lior Raz, brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Netflix) explains more, but it’s partially autobiographical. Like Boaz, Lior lost a girlfriend to terrorism, his girlfriend was stabbed to death and the episode dealing with the terrorism attack was in her memory.

Among the actors is the delectable Tsahi Halevy who is intensely “private” about his service. He will admit to serving in the territories as a soldier, and that he “knows a lot.” (Israeli and Palestinian Movie 'Bethelehem' Interview | TheBlot) I imagine he had input as well.

Now, first, a lot is censored. All three are extremely loyal and patriotic Israelis who would not risk anything compromising and likely self censored, submitted to censors and then likely spoke off the record to friends in the know. They would never do anything to compromise the safety of their former teammates or anyone else in Israel.

Yahya Ayyash was one amazing story and likely the inspiration of Abu Ahmad. A merciless killer of innocents, Ayyash was directly responsible for the deaths of 70 Israelis and the wounding of hundreds more. A team like Doron’s compromised a fellow Hamas member, and switched Ayyash’s phone with a cell phone laced with Semtex explosives. They called the phone, Ayyash picked up and was blown to bits.

Season 1 is geat, not a fan of season 3
 

Agema

You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver
Legacy
Mar 3, 2009
8,598
5,962
118
Taskmaster (Channel 4)

Taskmaster is into its umpteenth season (11?). The basic idea is that five people, mostly comedians or comic actors, are set a bunch of stupid and occasionally incredibly annoying tasks, with their performance judged and scored semi-arbitrarily by the wonderfully dictatorial Greg Davies, with Alex Horne (the show's creator) playing his minion. The same contestants appear over a whole season, with individual victories by show and a season winner.

Although Davies and Horne hold things together well, the show is really made by the quality of the contestants and their attempts to complete the weird and sometimes frustrating tasks they are given, or how they try to get by the rules. Consequently there have been a couple of duff seasons, but it's impressive to still be so good so far in. Surely they are eventually going to run out of people funny enough...

Apparently it has been exported to other countries for their own homegrown variants. But likely, I fear, with limited success: it seems a very strangely British thing, and I am not sure a conversion to local tastes will necessarily work.
 

09philj

Elite Member
Legacy
Mar 31, 2015
2,154
947
118
Taskmaster (Channel 4)

Taskmaster is into its umpteenth season (11?). The basic idea is that five people, mostly comedians or comic actors, are set a bunch of stupid and occasionally incredibly annoying tasks, with their performance judged and scored semi-arbitrarily by the wonderfully dictatorial Greg Davies, with Alex Horne (the show's creator) playing his minion. The same contestants appear over a whole season, with individual victories by show and a season winner.

Although Davies and Horne hold things together well, the show is really made by the quality of the contestants and their attempts to complete the weird and sometimes frustrating tasks they are given, or how they try to get by the rules. Consequently there have been a couple of duff seasons, but it's impressive to still be so good so far in. Surely they are eventually going to run out of people funny enough...

Apparently it has been exported to other countries for their own homegrown variants. But likely, I fear, with limited success: it seems a very strangely British thing, and I am not sure a conversion to local tastes will necessarily work.
Taskmaster's interesting as a social experiment because you take all these people, a lot of whom have quite carefully cultivated stage personae, and see which ones completely let on that they're sharper than they put on and which ones are actually completely dippy.

As for international versions, the American, Belgian, and Spanish versions didn't work out, but it's done quite well in Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden, apparently.
 

Xprimentyl

Made you look...
Legacy
Aug 13, 2011
6,207
4,481
118
Plano, TX
Country
United States
Gender
Male
The Office, season 7

The end of The Office. Yes, the show went on under the same name for two more seasons after Carell left but who cares? He was the linchpin of the show, and season 7 is dedicated to sending him off in a way that is satisfying but also kinda depressing. To the people watching at the time it was already well known that Carell was leaving by the end, and so most storylines had an air of denial or delusion to them. Why care or invest yourself on anything? Michael was out.

And I hate Holly Flax. It fell on the character to basically Yoko Ono Michael from The Office, no hate on the actress, but I never liked Holly. 5 seconds of Jan trying to open her car door was funnier than anything Holly did in her 4 years in and out of the show. And her relationship with Michael felt rushed and really not that deserving at all. Who proposes after only couple of months to a person who only agreed to date you after an ultimatum, so you quit your job, move states and leave all these rich relationships you've cultivated over the years?

The writers afterwards tried desperately to salvage the show by throwing in all these kookie characters (DeAngelo, Nellie, California, Dwight/Jim 2.0) and scraping the bottom of the barrel for romantic subplots, but the show never recovered. They should've pulled the plug when Carell quit.
While I agree The Office tapered off in quality after Michael's departure, I still found it enjoyable as many of the other characters were still fun to watch. I almost feel like everything after season 7 is a different show and enjoy it for separate reasons. I loved California; James Spader played a wonderful austere wildcard and served as an excellent "not Michael," imho. I particularly liked the Halloween episode where he tactfully learned everyone's fears, then compiled it all into their ultimate horror story. I think he was under-used, to be honest, and the plots involving him later in the show weren't explored near enough.

DeAngelo just wasn't fun. I know, that was probably the point: insert someone starkly different from Michael into the various idiosyncrasies of Dunder Mifflin, but his complete and total difference from not only Michael but EVERYONE made for some not so fun moments. We already had Jim to play the straight guy, and DeAngelo served to make even HIM look like an insufferable idiot.

Nellie, I never liked. For me, she was the "jumping the shark" point of the series. She was just... I dunno, felt like TOO much, like someone who walks into a room of people laughing, and starts exaggeratingly laughing too without knowing why while everyone already laughing has already started to regain composure.
 

Breakdown

Oxy Moron
Sep 5, 2014
753
150
48
down a well
Country
Northumbria
Gender
Lad
I'm about half way through Jupiter's Legacy, Netflix's new superhero series based on a Mark Millar comic.

I feel the series could go either way at this stage. Josh Duhamel is great as ageing superhero the Utopian, despite a bad wig. On the other hand the Utopian's two children are boring stereotypes who tend to get really cringeworthy dialogue. I suspect they're going to become the focus of the plot as the series goes on, which is unfortunate as every other character is more interesting than they are.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gorfias

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
On the other hand the Utopian's two children are boring stereotypes who tend to get really cringeworthy dialogue. I suspect they're going to become the focus of the plot as the series goes on,
Well I mean the show is called Jupiter's LEGACY :D So it would stand to reason that they would be the focus of the plot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Agema and Breakdown

gorfias

Unrealistic but happy
Legacy
May 13, 2009
7,082
1,849
118
Country
USA
I'm about half way through Jupiter's Legacy, Netflix's new superhero series based on a Mark Millar comic.

I feel the series could go either way at this stage. Josh Duhamel is great as ageing superhero the Utopian, despite a bad wig. On the other hand the Utopian's two children are boring stereotypes who tend to get really cringeworthy dialogue. I suspect they're going to become the focus of the plot as the series goes on, which is unfortunate as every other character is more interesting than they are.
It isn't "Invincible", which I have no mixed feelings about: I loved it. But it does improve a bit. By the end of Season 1, I want to see a Season 2.
 

Piscian

Elite Member
Apr 28, 2020
1,626
1,655
118
Country
United States
I'm about half way through Jupiter's Legacy, Netflix's new superhero series based on a Mark Millar comic.

I feel the series could go either way at this stage. Josh Duhamel is great as ageing superhero the Utopian, despite a bad wig. On the other hand the Utopian's two children are boring stereotypes who tend to get really cringeworthy dialogue. I suspect they're going to become the focus of the plot as the series goes on, which is unfortunate as every other character is more interesting than they are.
Jupiter's Legacy was a surprising choice for most comicbook fans as It's not a crazy popular comic and it's only like 5 issues. It's barely a seasons worth of story. Mark Millar is sort of well known for not particularly giving a shit about his characters or their development. His strong suit is his themes. Most of his characters are one-note and often shitty shallow people. One of his most Iconic, Ultimates envisions Captain America as, for all intents and purposes, a Alt-right nationalist, Hulk as a mass murderer, etc. Awful people, neat ideas.

For some reason the show runners want you to like these people or empathize, don't bother. Sky Foxes kid is the only one to bother rooting for imo, at least I like him anyway, both on page and screen.

I didn't "hate" the first season. Though it's one big prequel to the comic, taking place entirely in newly written content, thematically it's mostly a fair adaptation.

I really hated both Walking Dead and The Boys because they make up a bunch of drama shit that
A. Isn't in the books
B. Unnecessarily drags out episodes with "omg misunderstaaandingss" and
C. Tries to develop characters without considering their purpose in the books they're adapting (fucking GOT)

Jupiters legacy....so..far isn't pissing me off. The character story they're showing in Season One is at least referenced in the books and the characters are more or less true to the comic. It's....ok. I found myself enjoying it more as the season goes along. The second half is quite a bit more interesting than the first.
 

Gordon_4

The Big Engine
Legacy
Apr 3, 2020
6,045
5,345
118
Australia

I'm watching this on YouTube. Its an old British television series about SIS called "Sandbaggers". Its very routine, lots of politicking, lots of favours done for favours among SIS, CIA and other smaller agencies, blackmail and all sorts of other unpleasantness. Sometimes the missions go tits up, sometimes they work. Sometimes the boss makes a truly awful call and gets fuck all. Its great television XD
 

thebobmaster

Elite Member
Legacy
Apr 5, 2020
1,989
2,024
118
Country
United States
Iron Fist: Season 1

Yeah, that was rough. I'd argue it is the worst Marvel thing I've personally watched, although I've heard there are worse. There were some things to enjoy about the show, mostly revolving around the characters of Harold and Ward Meachum, a father-son pair that respectively were the most entertaining and best acted characters, but it is impossible to get into a hero-driven show when you don't like the main character. Unfortunately, Danny Rand is really hard to like. Between his impulsive actions that made me facepalm, lines that made me cringe ("This plan of yours sucks." "It doesn't suck, OK?!"), dodgy acting at times (basically, any time Finn Jones had to act angry), and actions in the story that violate any common sense (in this universe, a board of directors can hold an emergency meeting and oust the majority owners of a company, for example), I just could not really get into the show.

Plus, the action scenes ranged from competent to painful to watch (with one fight becoming notorious for having almost 60 cuts in a 30-odd second fight scene), which is never a good sign. I'm giving this show a 4/10, and that is almost entirely because of how entertaining Harold Meachum was, and how great Tom Pelphrey's acting as Ward Meachum was.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Dirty Hipsters

This is how we praise the sun!
Legacy
Feb 7, 2011
7,885
2,233
118
Country
'Merica
Gender
3 children in a trench coat
Dark

There's 3 seasons on Netflix and I'm halfway through season 2.

A German sci-fi show about time travel in a small town in which everyone's lives intersect through the generations. As the show moves back and forth in time you get to see how the relationships in the town were created, where they lead and what pushed them forward, the secrets that the town is hiding, and why it's all so fucked up.

An interesting premise and interestingly told story with some really solid acting. The pacing can be a little weird at times, and it can be a little difficult to wrap your head around who is who when going back and forth through time with the large cast of characters.

The show also does somewhat of a good job acknowledging the various paradoxes that the time travel genre creates.
 

Agema

You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver
Legacy
Mar 3, 2009
8,598
5,962
118
Jupiter's Legacy (Netflix)

Binge-watched season 1, and finished in a little over 24h. It's not bad. There's some guy called the Sheldon / The Utopian, and he's got a superhero team called the Union with a Code: Thou shalt not kill, even if the superbaddies are mowing your guys down by the truckload. Needless to say that with the casualty rate, the Union members seem to be getting pretty unhappy. The plot switches between modern day, as fractures spread in the unity of the Union and sticking to The Utopian's rigid ideals, together with a backstory going to the 1920s about how there came to be superheroes (and supervillains?).

It's solidly acted. The fight scenes are pretty good. Something about it is perhaps a bit sort of leaden or ponderous, but it's not bad. I sort of like the fact it attempts to address the fact that if superheroes keep going round doing their stuff and things never get better, what really is the point of them? If you think about Batman, and the fact he perpetually locks superperps up in Arkham Asylum for them to constant get free and wreak havoc with lots casualties... isn't this the point where you do kill people?

Also, unfortunately I correctly guessed that the Utopian's brother Walt ("Brainwave") was the guy deliberately destabilising The Union (never trust someone called Walt) in episode 1 because it was a little too obvious.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gorfias

gorfias

Unrealistic but happy
Legacy
May 13, 2009
7,082
1,849
118
Country
USA
Jupiter's Legacy (Netflix)

Binge-watched season 1, and finished in a little over 24h. It's not bad. There's some guy called the Sheldon / The Utopian, and he's got a superhero team called the Union with a Code: Thou shalt not kill, even if the superbaddies are mowing your guys down by the truckload. Needless to say that with the casualty rate, the Union members seem to be getting pretty unhappy. The plot switches between modern day, as fractures spread in the unity of the Union and sticking to The Utopian's rigid ideals, together with a backstory going to the 1920s about how there came to be superheroes (and supervillains?).

It's solidly acted. The fight scenes are pretty good. Something about it is perhaps a bit sort of leaden or ponderous, but it's not bad. I sort of like the fact it attempts to address the fact that if superheroes keep going round doing their stuff and things never get better, what really is the point of them? If you think about Batman, and the fact he perpetually locks superperps up in Arkham Asylum for them to constant get free and wreak havoc with lots casualties... isn't this the point where you do kill people?

Also, unfortunately I correctly guessed that the Utopian's brother Walt ("Brainwave") was the guy deliberately destabilising The Union (never trust someone called Walt) in episode 1 because it was a little too obvious.
Good enough for me to be jonesing for a Season 2. I got a kick out of youtube celeb Anna Akana being in it too.

And, I hope to live some more, long enough to see a Season 3 of Love, Death and Robots. Season 1 was 18 episodes. 2 was but 8. It is an anthology with each episode being unrelated to the others. Different stories and art direction. Don't like 1 episode? Skip it and move on to the next. 9/10
 

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
Good enough for me to be jonesing for a Season 2. I got a kick out of youtube celeb Anna Akana being in it too.

And, I hope to live some more, long enough to see a Season 3 of Love, Death and Robots. Season 1 was 18 episodes. 2 was but 8. It is an anthology with each episode being unrelated to the others. Different stories and art direction. Don't like 1 episode? Skip it and move on to the next. 9/10
Yeah LD&R season 1 had some great episodes. Some I could do without, but mostly really solid. I think my favorite was...I think it was titled Lucky 13? About the dropship with an onboard AI system, and it's pilot. I've always had a soft spot for stories about human/robot relationships, and not sexy relationships. Just, interactions, interdependency, etc. Such a solid story.
 

gorfias

Unrealistic but happy
Legacy
May 13, 2009
7,082
1,849
118
Country
USA
Yeah LD&R season 1 had some great episodes. Some I could do without, but mostly really solid. I think my favorite was...I think it was titled Lucky 13? About the dropship with an onboard AI system, and it's pilot. I've always had a soft spot for stories about human/robot relationships, and not sexy relationships. Just, interactions, interdependency, etc. Such a solid story.
Yup. Lucky 13. Last year, I think "Shape Shifters" a standout. This Season, Pop Squad was my standout. And they just keep getting better at providing near photo realistic imagery.

EDIT: Caught S1E1 of "The Great" on Hulu last night. Pitch black humor. Nicholas Holt (About a Boy: young Beast in Xmen) is a hilarious dolt/monster. A parody of the history of Russia's Catherine the Great. So far so good.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: happyninja42

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
Yup. Lucky 13. Last year, I think "Shape Shifters" a standout. This Season, Pop Squad was my standout. And they just keep getting better at providing near photo realistic imagery.

EDIT: Caught S1E1 of "The Great" on Hulu last night. Pitch black humor. Nicholas Holt (About a Boy: young Beast in Xmen) is a hilarious dolt/monster. A parody of the history of Russia's Catherine the Great. So far so good.
Yeah Shape Shifters was good too. The old White Wolf, Werewolf lover in me is always on board for anything werewolfy. It didn't hit as hard as Lucky 13, but it was good. The military/political undertones Shape Shifters kind of irked me a bit, but that's just because I deal with vets at work, so it tends to color things somewhat for me.

Haven't seen season 2 yet, honestly forgot about it. I might check out a few episodes tonight after work. Though that might have to wait. My kitty just had dental surgery today, so she's going to be unhappy when the meds wear off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gorfias