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

[XsjadoBlaydette]

House of the Dragon - (NowTV)
Never tried the OG game of thrones series, and motivation to do so wasn't helped by the unavoidable reception to those last season's. So fuck them, we got the new shit instead! And It don't need none of that knowledge of the other's lore to enjoy neither. There's something quite intriguing about acting the many layers of repression all these characters are trying to navigate through as they attempt to claw at what power they can, with a king that is kinda a solid dude for the most part (as opposed to almost every other king in mainstream fictional media). Is a bit jarring when time skips happen and actors have totally different faces for some but not others.

None of that is important tho. All fleeting distractions. From the real star of the show. The "you fckin what mate?" goat reaction shot...



Not technically related but heard this while typing and felt too resonant to not share;

 

[Thaluikhain]

Starship Exeter, fan-made Star Trek stuff set in the TOS era. First ep was bad, second one wasn't good, but a lot better.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Carnival Row Season 2


I'm loving the mix of CGI & practical effects for things like the characters wings (yes some of that is costume work with actual physical costume wings having been made).

A bit disappointed they've seemingly leaned more into the gore rather than having a mix of sex and gore like season 1 (though there's still time I'm sure).

Really loving the nuanced plotline and nature of it as a sort of tale about the nature of politics somewhat.

Orlando Bloom seems like he was made to play this role he's shockingly good in it.

Cara Delevingne is probably giving her best performance to date in anything she's been in.

All round surprisingly great and it's a shame so many seems to be sleeping on this show.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Something I've recently listened to.

BBC Radio 4 - Limelight, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Firewall

Thrilling new action-adventure drama, based on the iconic video game Splinter Cell.

www.bbc.co.uk

Spinter Cell: Firewall.

Holy crap is this pure grade A cheese

So I'm not a big Splinter Cell lore nut so a lot of this was likely lost of me because a lot of it is referencing previous events in the franchise (so only just about accessible for new people to the franchise) and it feels like the worst most played up elements of apparently what Clancy novels are. Lots of military hardware porn, somewhat gruff main protagonist whose all about duty until he has to make a moral choice. Villain whose literally an Ex-KGB assassin.

Oh and I can't imagine fans of the franchise being too happy because this is the adventure where Sam's daughter Sarah becomes an agent and goes on her first mission as part of the 4th Echelon.

It's cheesy, it's cringey at times, it's stupidly over the top. It's trash but it's something I think people should listen through because it's pure grade A pulp novel material and it's kind of hilarious in just how seriously it takes itself at times.

 

[Ag3ma]

The Glory, seasons 1 & 2 (Netflix)

Korean revenge drama (are the Koreans particularly into revenge, or is just chance from what media of theirs I've seen?) This follows a woman, Moon Dong-eun, in her mid-30s who sets out to get revenge on a gang who viciously bullied her at school - a long period of psychological and physical torment, culminating in her receiving some appalling injuries. And so it is once she recovers, her life plans destroyed, she sets out on a two-decade plan to destroy them in return.

Although chiefly a revenge plot, one of the thing that comes through is the issue of class and wealth inequality in Korea (also seemingly a major issue in Korean media I've seen). Dong-eun is victimised at school because she is poor, and the ringleader of the gang (Park Yeon-jin) is from a wealthy and influential background to cover up her abuse. The gang itself span classes and have tensions between: two are upper-middle, one middle, and two working class. The working class ones endure belittlement, but endure it because their incomes / lifestyles and ambitions for advancement are dependent on the wealthier. Although all the gang are pretty horrible people, it seems to me the richer they are, the more awful they are. This means that despite still hanging out with each other years after school, they also don't much like each other in many ways, so when Dong-eun seeks to disrupt them and turn them against each other, it's fertile territory.

Even our heroes have issues. Dong-eun herself, traumatised and revenge-focused, is consequently amoral (although softens throughout). She is assisted by a mostly kindly doctor and aspiring romantic interest who has his own demons and dark side. She also hires an abused housewife to help her, Kang Hyeon-nam, who seems to be just about the only genuinely good main character. Hyeon-nam is perhaps the biggest bit of joy in the series with her development from domestic abuse to resourceful investigator.

Also, there appear to be a lot of women throwing emotional tantrums: I don't know whether this is a feature of Korean society or media tropes, or maybe just reflects the people in the show. Specifically, that extreme emotional responses are characteristic of disordered / bad people.

If you hate subtitles, you're going to have to give it a miss unless your region has a dubbed version. But it's well-produced, paced, acted, and zips along quite pleasingly. It's obviously got plenty dark elements, but it's far from all grim, and even some gentle light relief. I only caught it because my wife watched it (so I missed the first episode or two) but it got me interested and I'm glad I watched it.

 

[Gordon_4]

The Glory, seasons 1 & 2 (Netflix)

Korean revenge drama (are the Koreans particularly into revenge, or is just chance from what media of theirs I've seen?) This follows a woman, Moon Dong-eun, in her mid-30s who sets out to get revenge on a gang who viciously bullied her at school - a long period of psychological and physical torment, culminating in her receiving some appalling injuries. And so it is once she recovers, her life plans destroyed, she sets out on a two-decade plan to destroy them in return.

Although chiefly a revenge plot, one of the thing that comes through is the issue of class and wealth inequality in Korea (also seemingly a major issue in Korean media I've seen). Dong-eun is victimised at school because she is poor, and the ringleader of the gang (Park Yeon-jin) is from a wealthy and influential background to cover up her abuse. The gang itself span classes and have tensions between: two are upper-middle, one middle, and two working class. The working class ones endure belittlement, but endure it because their incomes / lifestyles and ambitions for advancement are dependent on the wealthier. Although all the gang are pretty horrible people, it seems to me the richer they are, the more awful they are. This means that despite still hanging out with each other years after school, they also don't much like each other in many ways, so when Dong-eun seeks to disrupt them and turn them against each other, it's fertile territory.

Even our heroes have issues. Dong-eun herself, traumatised and revenge-focused, is consequently amoral (although softens throughout). She is assisted by a mostly kindly doctor and aspiring romantic interest who has his own demons and dark side. She also hires an abused housewife to help her, Kang Hyeon-nam, who seems to be just about the only genuinely good main character. Hyeon-nam is perhaps the biggest bit of joy in the series with her development from domestic abuse to resourceful investigator.

Also, there appear to be a lot of women throwing emotional tantrums: I don't know whether this is a feature of Korean society or media tropes, or maybe just reflects the people in the show. Specifically, that extreme emotional responses are characteristic of disordered / bad people.

If you hate subtitles, you're going to have to give it a miss unless your region has a dubbed version. But it's well-produced, paced, acted, and zips along quite pleasingly. It's obviously got plenty dark elements, but it's far from all grim, and even some gentle light relief. I only caught it because my wife watched it (so I missed the first episode or two) but it got me interested and I'm glad I watched it.

Admittedly this is only a sample of two but between this and Taxi Driver (no relation to the De Niro movie) being about a vengeance for hire firm who get most of their clients by sticking their cards to a spot on a bridge you can only see if you’re about to jump off it, maybe their writers hate social and judicial inequity in their home country as much as we do.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Ted Lasso season three opener

Looks like it’ll continue to be the dose of feel good dramedy that people could always use more of these days.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Ted Lasso season three opener

Looks like it’ll continue to be the dose of feel good dramedy that people could always use more of these days.

Watched the first episode last night, and yeah; I agree.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Watched the first episode last night, and yeah; I agree.

I really liked the little experiment they snuck in there with the press conference. At first we were like *cringe* right along with Rebecca and the press, but then little by little Ted turns the tides on it all with his humility and optimism.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Shining Girls season 1

Elizabeth Moss stars as a woman used and abused by a man as part of a wider pattern of patriarchal oppression but in a sci-fi setting. The dramatic intensity and emotional pathos is emphasized with many long closeups of Moss's face doing teeth-clenching ACTING.
No, this isn't Handmaid's Tale, it's a whole 'nother show.

The hook, and the reason we watched the whole season even though we gave up on HT, is that the criminal somehow seems to travel through time or maybe be immortal, some sci-fi related mystery, and we wanted to see where it went. While the ending was exciting to watch, the actual mystery wasn't that great in our opinion. Meanwhile the central dynamic is her relationship with two other men, colleagues at the newspaper she works at.

There is some multiverse type shenanigans because it's 2023 and we're still doing that I guess.
The show is.. ok. I just couldn't get past my brain comparing it to HT and, as with such shows, it's humorless and dour (as it should be given the plot and theme). So if you're in the mood for this sort of thing, it will deliver.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Ted Lasso season three opener

Looks like it’ll continue to be the dose of feel good dramedy that people could always use more of these days.

I didn't even know season 3 was releasing/out!!!

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I didn't even know season 3 was releasing/out!!!

Just started last night I think. Only reason to get Apple TV again I guess.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Elizabeth Moss stars as a woman used and abused by a man

Seen it.

 

[Absent]

Seen it.

But he was invisible !!

 

[Mister Mumbler]

Mandalorian Season 3 Eps. 1-3

So I've mentioned previously on the forums how I like the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, and while my feelings haven't changed on the first season, I found my feelings on the second season to have gone south a bit. It's still fine, but I don't think it holds up as well as the first on a recent rewatch. Not to say it's bad or anything, but I feel like the switch from season one's more episodic story nature where they set up and finish a plot by the time the credits roll to a season long narrative really hurt it.

Which brings us to season three, and the few episodes already on offer. First episode was pretty good, though apparent that we were in for a "season two" style of season by the time we leave the space pirate captain shaking his first at the sight of Mando flying away. And then Bo shows up, and this season goes off the rails.

This entire bit, from the reasoning, pacing, even our characters, don't make any sense here. Last time we had Mando on team "dead planet" when Bo states her plan to retake Mandalore. Now, not only have these two completely flipped sides, but Bo has also lost all the ships she has been stealing, lost her few followers (they wouldn't follow her without the sabre, yet she didn't have it the entire time they were with her), and has been sitting in her fortress doing squat apparently until Mando shows up. Said fortress being right next to the planet Mandalore. This whole bit lasts literally a few minutes ("Hey, want to do that thing you wanted to do a month ago?" "No" "Okay, good day to you").

So Mando, upon being rejected for a team up to Mandalore, goes back to Navarro (where he just was before flying to, and I can not stress this enough, a moon of Mandalore). He has one scene there where he tries to reboot IG-88, fails, and then heads to Tattooine before heading back to Mandalore. This whole plot is a mess and we're only 10 minutes into episode two.

...I have more, but it's getting late and this alone took 30 mins
(This is why I usually never do more than shit post, this is why. Hard to get my thoughts down, in order and with as few grammar and spelling errors as possible)

 

[Casual Shinji]

I've been watching The Glory. I checked it out on a whim, and it started as what seemed like a nice blunt revenge show, but it's become a very intriguing little story. The first episode feels almost anime-esque in how fucking evil the high school bullies are, and how miserable and sad the victim is. If you have an affinity for this type of stuff - relishing in the endless misery and the hopeless desire for retribution - that first episode will not leave you unsatisfied.

It's quite amazing how they've managed to make the bullies remain these absolute bastards, while still making their own personal lives and struggles interesting and entertaining. Especially the main queen b*tch, who is a complete psychopath, but still has a life and people that she wishes to protect. And thank God they never try to excuse their shit behaviour on past trauma or having been bullied themselves. No, they're just wretched scum, though that doesn't mean they're not still humans trying to find and maintain their own happiness.

Yeah, so far this is pretty sweet. Hard time remembering those Korean names though, oof.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Mando Episode 3.

Well, that was weird. It was kinda fun, but also just really slow. Like a completely different show was sandwiched in between two tiny slices of square from the actual show, ala those incredibly impractical viral burger recipes.

 

[BrawlMan]

​

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Daisy Jones and The Six

Basically a behind the music for a fake band inspired by Fleetwood Mac. You can tell because the original songs have that made for TV feel, and none of them actually sound like something that would be an actual hit back then. But it's well acted, and after the first eight episodes I remain intrigued by the music drama, curious how it will end.

 

[Piscian]

Picard S03E05

I think RLM put it best, saying that the writer here is very clearly just pulling the best bits and bobs from all the movies, like literally of them, some scenes and plot threads beat for beat. So to enjoy the show at all you have to forget Star Trek the series and just enjoy this season as a sequel movie split into 8-10 episodes or whatever it's gonna be.

Sadly Episode 5 dips into the "They've infiltrated Star Fleet" trope we've already seen a few times, essentially stating the Changlings have evolved their biology to now be much more different to detect. There's no "Blood test" that really works anymore. To the shows credit it's tempted me to go back and watch a few episodes of the old shows because I'm little rusty on some of the characters and concepts that were introduced here. I think however, the show is doing its job if it manages to spark enough interest in me to go back and watch Star Trek to better understand this series. Regardless of the plot not quite feeling all that original I like the ideas and how they are being plotted. Even if I was on board with the plot of the first season, it was told in such a mindnumbing mystery box fashion that I could not bring myself to sit through more than a couple episodes before I just wanted to go do literally anything else. It's also worth noting as the episodes go on were seeing less and less sappy picard. A former villain turned good guy is introduced into this episode and he's absolute **** about it. So much so it gave me a tiny joy seeing the old dickhead Picard back, shouting posh insults.

It's sort of fascinating that this season is essentially a soft reboot. There's also no mention of anything from the past two seasons. With minor trimming or additions this season works completely in a vacuum. Even the returning characters are in a complete vacuum, for instance 7/9 is just suddenly a Star Trek Commander. Like they vaguely acknowledge she was a "ranger" or whatever the fuck that was and they just move on as if she's been serving in Star Fleet for the last 5-10 years.

I'll this, Picard Season 3 is better than the last two movies and a good deal of Enterprise. It's a solid 7/10 for me at this point. Nothing I'd jump out of bed to watch but fun. Just wished they'd had this show runner from the beginning.