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

[Absent]

What are the chances for a (new, reluctant, last) rlm review ?

 

[Hawki]

The Flash: Season 8 (3/5)

Like season 7, season 8 uses a "graphic novel" formula, with multiple mini-arcs spread across the season rather than one big overall story spread across approx. 20 episodes. Unlike season 7, season 8 isn't utter dogshite, so that's already a step up.

That being said, season 8 isn't "good." And while I've yet to see a single season that I'd call "good," even if its first three come close, season 8 is easily the most safe, and arguably the most boring. Season 7 was terrible, but it was at least memorable in its terribleness. Season 8 is...well, season 8. Boring even number sub-divided by 2 and 4, or something.

TBH, I actually started typing thoughts on each arc, but I just gave up, because I just didn't care enough. I guess to do things in point form, I can say that:

-Armageddon: Decent, but does a hard u-turn on its final episode.

-Interlude I: Nora and Bart are okay, I can barely remember the Kramer episode

-Death Revisited: Deathstorm is a very bad person who does very bad things. It's fine, but unmemorable.

-Interlude II: Funeral for a Friend is the most memorable episode given its structure. Apart from that...huh, I just realized that the Renee plotline is never actually resolved in this season. Oopsie.

-It's All Negative: Mixed thoughts. Flashpoint!Eoboard is a nice twist, but the whole thing with Meena feels off. I thought Thawne built the Negative Speed Force, but apparently he didn't, and it turns out all you need to not be corrupted by it is to have 'true wuv' for someone (bleh). The Negative Forces are...okay? I guess? There's no weird children stuff like in season 7, so that's an immediate step-up. Anyway, battle, Thawne is defeated (again), for what may or may not be the final time, and really, it's academic at this point. The guy's got more lives than a cat with multiple cats in alternate realities, all of which have nine lives with nine alternate dimensional lives.

Anyway, meh. Really, I'm just past caring at this point. A lot of the show comes off as juvenile, and while it was never all that mature, it's just, well, meh. Granted, it doesn't help that this is coming off House of the Dragon, nor that like every Arrowverse show, I don't do "proper watches," but still, well, "meh."

Anyway, current Arrowverse ranking is as follows:

Spoiler

32) The Flash: Season 7

31) Black Lightning: Season 2

30) Black Lightning: Season 1

29) Arrow: Season 8

28) Arrow: Season 3

27) Black Lightning: Season 4

26) Arrow: Season 7

25) The Flash: Season 8

24) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6

23) The Flash: Season 5

22) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 3

21) Batwoman: Season 1

20) The Flash: Season 4

19) The Flash: Season 6

18) Stargirl: Season 2

17) The Flash: Season 3

16) Supergirl: Season 1

15) Arrow: Season 5

14) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 1

13) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2

12) Arrow: Season 6

11) Supergirl: Season 2

10) The Flash: Season 1

9) The Flash: Season 2

8) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5

7) Superman and Lois: Season 1

6) Black Lightning: Season 3

5) Arrow: Season 4

4) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 4

3) Stargirl: Season 1

2) Arrow: Season 2

1) Arrow: Season 1

 

[Ag3ma]

I liked both seasons of Picard so I’m looking forward to this one.

Strange New Worlds is the current Star Trek MVP though; no contest.

I enjoyed season 1 of Picard quite a lot. I thought season 2 was bewilderingly poor.

I know they were always going to drip-feed us TNG characters for fan service, and I don't mind. I do mind the laziness that goes into nearly all alternative dimension, time travel and holodeck/dream plots, and season 2 was one them writ large. It's like the writers are screaming at us "SORRY GUYS I COULDN'T THINK UP A GOOD IDEA."

 

[Piscian]

Bit off-topi, but is there any big, long running franchise that this isn't true of? It just seems to be a matter of how much they want to burn their fans' goodwill for short term profit, versus keeping it alive to make money from in the future.

I mean theres just not that many that survived long enough to be handed off to another generation to play with. Its basically just star wars, doctor who and star trek.

What are the chances for a (new, reluctant, last) rlm review ?

You know, I'm kinda 50/50 that they may just skip it. Its hard to say though because content worth talking about has kind of dried up recently. I would imagine it would depend on how easy it is to make fun of it. Then again I can already sort of picture Rich laughing hysterically at Beverly killing that guy in the opening scene.

 

[Gordon_4]

I enjoyed season 1 of Picard quite a lot. I thought season 2 was bewilderingly poor.

I know they were always going to drip-feed us TNG characters for fan service, and I don't mind. I do mind the laziness that goes into nearly all alternative dimension, time travel and holodeck/dream plots, and season 2 was one them writ large. It's like the writers are screaming at us "SORRY GUYS I COULDN'T THINK UP A GOOD IDEA."

Season 2 I felt had all the kinds of hallmark fuckery I expect whenever Q is involved so I can be very forgiving of the contrivances.

Spoiler

And the last scene with Picard and Q, in isolation wouldn’t be much of anything but for me personally who had long loved TNG, it hit just right. It was emotional and a great way to say goodbye to him. I was also very, very impressed with Ito Aghayere playing young Guinen. And I won’t lie the scene where FBI agent takes a leap of faith and lets Picard and Guinen go felt very affirming. My only complaint was we lost Captain Rios. He was a great character and I’d loved to see him get a show about commanding the Stsrgazer. Alas.

Mind you, I’m personally hanging out for them to make a series about Captain Garrett and the Enterprise - C.

 

[gorfias]

No I watched a couple episodes of season 1 and 2, but I couldn't get into it. It reminds me a lot of Rise Of the Skywalker and how they are more invested in a nostalgia product than writing a good story with good acting.

That said, theres a lot of Star Trek Fans that are no different than Star Wars fans who cry in public while watching a new trailer. "This is a thing that I'm invested in" fans. If you came out with a new show that followed the same storytelling principals as Star Trek, I'd happily watch it, I don't care what its called. I just don't have the "allegiance" to star trek that would be required to sit through and compare 3 seasons of Picard. "RIKER IS BACK" Fuck off who cares. Riker wasn't in DS9, and it was a better show. Why would having him in this improve the quality? (Note I think evil riker made an appearence, but you get my point).

If someone can say "Oh man this season is a huge step up from that last two." Then I can already tell they are willing to sit through something I'm not.

Have you seen "The Orville"? All 3 seasons on Hulu. It starts as more of a sitcom that wants it both ways. Bit like the fantastic movie "Galaxy Quest" that exists as a comedy spoof of Star Trek but is also a plausible Sci Fantasy show. By Season 3, most of the humor is gone. Little bit left but not much. It wants to be Star Trek. Seth MacFarlane made his own Star Trek fan flicks as a kid and I think appears in a show or two, maybe before he was famous.


I got a free month of Paramount + today. I thought the whole series available. Oops. I'm going to end up paying for 2 months to see the remaining 9 episodes.
I'm skipping Season 1 and 2 and happily, don't think I need them.
I'm enjoying it as its own thing. It isn't the nostalgia rush. Just, good set up so far. But it is only 1 episode in. We'll see if I end up buying that 2nd month.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

You know, I'm kinda 50/50 that they may just skip it. Its hard to say though because content worth talking about has kind of dried up recently. I would imagine it would depend on how easy it is to make fun of it. Then again I can already sort of picture Rich laughing hysterically at Beverly killing that guy in the opening scene.

That's right, Jay.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Found this dude thanks to Capybaras. He's got really good alliteration and word play. Think I'll follow him and see what else he's got.

 

[Ag3ma]

Season 2 I felt had all the kinds of hallmark fuckery I expect whenever Q is involved so I can be very forgiving of the contrivances.

Spoiler

And the last scene with Picard and Q, in isolation wouldn’t be much of anything but for me personally who had long loved TNG, it hit just right. It was emotional and a great way to say goodbye to him. I was also very, very impressed with Ito Aghayere playing young Guinen. And I won’t lie the scene where FBI agent takes a leap of faith and lets Picard and Guinen go felt very affirming. My only complaint was we lost Captain Rios. He was a great character and I’d loved to see him get a show about commanding the Stsrgazer. Alas.

Mind you, I’m personally hanging out for them to make a series about Captain Garrett and the Enterprise - C.

I was never a big fan of Q, personally. But even with his involvement, I think season 2 could have done better.

 

[Gordon_4]

I was never a big fan of Q, personally. But even with his involvement, I think season 2 could have done better.

I think that’s fair, and honesty true of most things.

 

[Piscian]

Have you seen "The Orville"? All 3 seasons on Hulu. It starts as more of a sitcom that wants it both ways. Bit like the fantastic movie "Galaxy Quest" that exists as a comedy spoof of Star Trek but is also a plausible Sci Fantasy show. By Season 3, most of the humor is gone. Little bit left but not much. It wants to be Star Trek. Seth MacFarlane made his own Star Trek fan flicks as a kid and I think appears in a show or two, maybe before he was famous.


I got a free month of Paramount + today. I thought the whole series available. Oops. I'm going to end up paying for 2 months to see the remaining 9 episodes.
I'm skipping Season 1 and 2 and happily, don't think I need them.
I'm enjoying it as its own thing. It isn't the nostalgia rush. Just, good set up so far. But it is only 1 episode in. We'll see if I end up buying that 2nd month.

You know, I enjoyed..some of Orville. I got 2 seasons in and I just couldn't quite get into the third season. I think it was just neither as funny as family guy or as compelling as Star Trek. It just wasn't quite there and so I'd groan at the jokes and be bored by the storytelling. Strangely I think Lower decks has been a better show overall because it's confident in what it wants to deliver.

 

[Baffle]

Rose Red (not Red Rose the Stephen King thing) on Netflix. Starts pretty good, and I don't want to add any spoilers here because I think it probably is worth a watch even though it gets less good as time passes. My Netflix ran out just before I watched the last episode, and it's not quite good enough for me to consider renewing for another month.

Note: it's set in around 2020 or so, but the fashions and music are anachronistically nineties/early thousands.

 

[gorfias]

Marc Maron: HBO. I didn't care for it. D.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

What are the chances for a (new, reluctant, last) rlm review ?

 

[Piscian]

Uuugh fine. FUCK. I watched it. Pretty much agree with rlm. I dig the tonal shift, I agree picard sounds significantly less obnoxiously emotional. Love the art change. The visuals feel more hard scifi old trek with updated cgi, versus the new shows that have that abrams blinding lens flare and everything being filmed from a weird corner of every scene.

That said, I still bristle at all this mystery box shit. Literally nothing is answered and it feels like every scene had another question TO BE ANSWERED LATER.

Meh, Ill watch if I remember its on.

 

[Trunkage]

Have you seen "The Orville"? All 3 seasons on Hulu. It starts as more of a sitcom that wants it both ways. Bit like the fantastic movie "Galaxy Quest" that exists as a comedy spoof of Star Trek but is also a plausible Sci Fantasy show. By Season 3, most of the humor is gone. Little bit left but not much. It wants to be Star Trek. Seth MacFarlane made his own Star Trek fan flicks as a kid and I think appears in a show or two, maybe before he was famous.


I got a free month of Paramount + today. I thought the whole series available. Oops. I'm going to end up paying for 2 months to see the remaining 9 episodes.
I'm skipping Season 1 and 2 and happily, don't think I need them.
I'm enjoying it as its own thing. It isn't the nostalgia rush. Just, good set up so far. But it is only 1 episode in. We'll see if I end up buying that 2nd month.

Season 3 is excellent, Season 2 is good, Season 1 is poor.

Many things that happen in season 3 are set up in 2. It can be beneficial watching it. 1 can be skipped completely

 

[Ag3ma]

You - season 4 (Netflix)

Okay, same shit rolling along. Except they've decamped to London, because reasons. It's set in a university, as our serial killer protagonist has managed to get fake ID able to pass himself off as an academic. However, he still can't escape his difficult backstory, and someone knows who he really is... There's a whole load of "diminishing returns" going on here, but it's okay I guess, as long as you didn't mind earlier series.

However, it's the worst sort of "Britain as uncomplicated to Americans as possible". I can just about forgive the unrealistic posho vibe of London that all those bloody Richard Curtis / Bridget Jones / Working Title spend decades selling. But what really annoys me is that everyone teaching at the university is called professor. In the UK, the academic ranks go lecturer, senior lecturer, (reader / principal lecturer), professor. The only people who get called "professor" are actual professors. Everyone else gets called whatever their normal daily title is - usually Dr., because academics tend to have doctorates. However, as this would add even the tiniest bit of having to soak in some additional information for a US audience, it's not happening. Ugh.

 

[Hawki]

Doctor Who: Galaxy 4 (3/5)

Not sure why this is called "Galaxy 4," when the events are confined to a single planet, and the galaxy in question is irrelevant.

Fine, whatever. The Doctor and his companions end up on a planet about to be destroyed by its sun, only the two factions there are at each others' throats, hindering their ability to escape. Cue shannanigans.

Anyway, it's fine.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Doctor Who: Galaxy 4 (3/5)

Not sure why this is called "Galaxy 4," when the events are confined to a single planet, and the galaxy in question is irrelevant.

Fine, whatever. The Doctor and his companions end up on a planet about to be destroyed by its sun, only the two factions there are at each others' throats, hindering their ability to escape. Cue shannanigans.

Anyway, it's fine.

I like how the existing episode looks totally different from the animated versions.

Also, why is each animated Dr Who story seemingly done by a different company with a totally different animation style?

 

[Absent]

Doctor Who: Galaxy 4 (3/5)

Not sure why this is called "Galaxy 4," when the events are confined to a single planet, and the galaxy in question is irrelevant.

Fine, whatever. The Doctor and his companions end up on a planet about to be destroyed by its sun, only the two factions there are at each others' throats, hindering their ability to escape. Cue shannanigans.

Anyway, it's fine.

What ? What are you talking about ? What is going on ? They've restarted Doctor Who ? Why isn't anyone ever telling me anything ?