Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)
- Thread starter Hawki
- Start date
Yeah. Yeah pretty much. Not that anything is wrong with that. Season 2 was kinda shit, despite my love of Q.
Mando S3 Ep 6. Fuck this ep, and everyone in it. Lizzo and Jack Black were awful. Everything looked like shit, although I guess it was fun to see a super battle droid book it like Usain Bolt. The writing in this ep was bottom of the barrel. What a waste of everyone's time.
Episode 7 and 8? Eh. Yet more setting up future shows, some heavy handed references to the sequel trilogy, and a bizzare depiction of Moff Gideon. I'll hold back on the specifics since it's still kinda new.
Overall, this season was a huge disappointment. Like I keep saying, I'm not expecting another Andor. But these episodes felt much cheaper than the two previous seasons, and radical thought, but maybe things should be at LEAST as good as what has come before.
Episode 7 and 8? Eh. Yet more setting up future shows, some heavy handed references to the sequel trilogy, and a bizzare depiction of Moff Gideon. I'll hold back on the specifics since it's still kinda new.
Overall, this season was a huge disappointment. Like I keep saying, I'm not expecting another Andor. But these episodes felt much cheaper than the two previous seasons, and radical thought, but maybe things should be at LEAST as good as what has come before.
Mandalorian, Season 3. Don't care how anyone else feels about it, I quite liked it. Managed to turn me around on Bo-Katan quite a bit (didn't really like her until now, despite Katee Sackoff), and I enjoyed the deeper look into the evolution of Mandalorian culture. The season wasn't perfect, of course. A lot of the villain stuff seemed to be almost an afterthought, with especially the episode focused almost entirely on the villains/former Imperials coming off as kind of filler in hindsight. Still a great season, and if this were to be the last season of The Mandalorian, I feel like it did a great job tying up the loose ends.
Moon Knight (4/5)
Tarawet is best hippo.
If you've seen this series, you'll understand the reference. If you haven't, you won't understand the reference unless you're up to snuff with Egyptian mythology. If you've seen the series and don't agree that Tarawet is best hippo, then you're in deNile.
Talk of hippos aside, this was pretty neat. I wouldn't really be able to tell you anything about Moon Knight before watching this, and after watching it, I can't tell you that much more. I'm going to cut to the chase, the main reason this is 4/5 rather than 5/5 is because the action sequences just bore me. The titular character is nearly invincible, and even then, you can't make people beating the shit out of each other interesting if you've done it a million times before. Also, the main impetus for the plot has been explored better in stuff like Minority Report (if a person's going to commit a crime, are they guilty before the crime is comitted?), whereas here, it's just lip service. Instead, I'm going to list what the series does really well and move from there. So on that note:
-Oscar Isaacs is the GOAT. No, really - the guy needs to play two versions of the same character via personality disorder, and his acting is brilliant in this. Obviously this kind of thing has been done before, but that doesn't really detract from how excellent his acting is here. Not onyl does he have to play his two versions, but often has to play them off each other. From a guy who I only knew previously from Poe Dameron (space jocks r us), his acting chops are on full display.
-The directing, by extension, is excellent. Said conversations are often framed in the context of mirrors, where Marc Spector/Steven Grant will often see/address their counterpart when seeing a reflection. Again, this isn't new, but the directing techniques here are excellent.
-Its handling of Egyptian mythology is well done. To be clear, I can hardly call myself an expert on Egyptian mythology, but of what's on display here, it feels true to the myth, or at least, true enough that it feels authentic even if liberties are taken.
-The series's penultimate episode, "The Asylum." Just, everythign about this episode. I mean, wow. Just wow. It encapsulates what I mean when I say (and I'm saying this now) that this show is at its best when it's a psychological thriller. Action? Boring. Psychological weirdness? Gimme!
-Also helps that the show's actually quite funny too, and not in the MCU quippy way, but genuine humour.
-Speaking of the MCU, YMMV, but the show feels completely isolated from the rest of the setting. There's one blink and you'll miss it reference to Black Panther, and I think that's it. Whether that's good or bad is something that I leave up to you.
-I wondered if it was best to address this, since identity politics debates often go off the rails, but I remember when this show was released/about to be released, and there was the usual hubbub of Moon Knight being Jewish, and representation, and all that, and a hundred other things that I have no horse with, but since it's established that Marc Spector is/was Jewish in the show, I'm going to bring up that there might have been a missed oppotunity here based on what the identitarians said, namely that Khonsu (an Egyptian deity) has basically enslaved a Jewish man (Marc Spector) to do his bidding, which may or may not be a parallel to Egypt's enslavement of the Israelites, depending on how much stock you put in Biblical accounts. To be clear, this is a minor issue, but it's something the show could have done if it wanted to.
So, yeah. Pretty neat. Really, this is the best MCU TV show there is (of what I've seen, which isn't that much). Nice job.
Tarawet is best hippo.
If you've seen this series, you'll understand the reference. If you haven't, you won't understand the reference unless you're up to snuff with Egyptian mythology. If you've seen the series and don't agree that Tarawet is best hippo, then you're in deNile.
Talk of hippos aside, this was pretty neat. I wouldn't really be able to tell you anything about Moon Knight before watching this, and after watching it, I can't tell you that much more. I'm going to cut to the chase, the main reason this is 4/5 rather than 5/5 is because the action sequences just bore me. The titular character is nearly invincible, and even then, you can't make people beating the shit out of each other interesting if you've done it a million times before. Also, the main impetus for the plot has been explored better in stuff like Minority Report (if a person's going to commit a crime, are they guilty before the crime is comitted?), whereas here, it's just lip service. Instead, I'm going to list what the series does really well and move from there. So on that note:
-Oscar Isaacs is the GOAT. No, really - the guy needs to play two versions of the same character via personality disorder, and his acting is brilliant in this. Obviously this kind of thing has been done before, but that doesn't really detract from how excellent his acting is here. Not onyl does he have to play his two versions, but often has to play them off each other. From a guy who I only knew previously from Poe Dameron (space jocks r us), his acting chops are on full display.
-The directing, by extension, is excellent. Said conversations are often framed in the context of mirrors, where Marc Spector/Steven Grant will often see/address their counterpart when seeing a reflection. Again, this isn't new, but the directing techniques here are excellent.
-Its handling of Egyptian mythology is well done. To be clear, I can hardly call myself an expert on Egyptian mythology, but of what's on display here, it feels true to the myth, or at least, true enough that it feels authentic even if liberties are taken.
-The series's penultimate episode, "The Asylum." Just, everythign about this episode. I mean, wow. Just wow. It encapsulates what I mean when I say (and I'm saying this now) that this show is at its best when it's a psychological thriller. Action? Boring. Psychological weirdness? Gimme!
-Also helps that the show's actually quite funny too, and not in the MCU quippy way, but genuine humour.
-Speaking of the MCU, YMMV, but the show feels completely isolated from the rest of the setting. There's one blink and you'll miss it reference to Black Panther, and I think that's it. Whether that's good or bad is something that I leave up to you.
-I wondered if it was best to address this, since identity politics debates often go off the rails, but I remember when this show was released/about to be released, and there was the usual hubbub of Moon Knight being Jewish, and representation, and all that, and a hundred other things that I have no horse with, but since it's established that Marc Spector is/was Jewish in the show, I'm going to bring up that there might have been a missed oppotunity here based on what the identitarians said, namely that Khonsu (an Egyptian deity) has basically enslaved a Jewish man (Marc Spector) to do his bidding, which may or may not be a parallel to Egypt's enslavement of the Israelites, depending on how much stock you put in Biblical accounts. To be clear, this is a minor issue, but it's something the show could have done if it wanted to.
So, yeah. Pretty neat. Really, this is the best MCU TV show there is (of what I've seen, which isn't that much). Nice job.
I would say the common factor between the "good" MCU shows is that they fit perfectly into the episodic format, instead of feeling like a movie stretched out into a TV show. Moon Knight takes the time to explore Marc's character, which would have never worked in a two hour movie. Wandavision is literally a TV show, and She-Hulk is a parody of a legal drama.
Whereas something like Hawkeye or Miss Marvel would have benefitted from being much shorter, and with much better production value.
I thought Ms. Marvel was great personally, but it needed more time in Pakistan.
It needed less whatever the fuck the villains were and more focus on everything that made the show unique. So yes, Pakistan, South Asian-American culture, hell even the whole "I'm a nerd in high school" shtick.
I wanted to like this show but given 50% was so disconnected from the rest, and was pretty awful, it's a disappointment in my book. Especially when the character meant so much to a lot of people.
That’s fair, having the dickheads from Damage Control would have been sufficient as antagonistic forces go.
Oscar Isaac almost completely carried this show. It was either going to succeed or fail depending on how well he did. Holy shit, did it succeed. The entire episode where we find out why he developed the split personality in the first place, and the events that led to the full-on DID...easily one of the best single things that Marvel has done, and it was all Oscar Isaac carrying it.
Fun fact: if you thought his British accent sounded dodgy, you're right. Oscar Isaac intentionally tried to make it sound like an American trying to sound British, rather than an actual attempt at a British accent.
Succession S4, Barry S4
Two great HBO shows that started in 2018 and are ending things on their own terms in 2023 after 4 seasons. And Stephen Root is in both! u Succession swings freely from drama to comedy and Barry is comedy that 180's into drama after S2. Season 3 is where both shows change.
For Succession, the show was clearly a victim of the pandemic. There's less of it, many episodes feel like 'bottle episodes', there's less ostentation of crowds and locations (a contrast with the exuberance of previous seasons) and there's a general pervading feeling that the season is merely on holding pattern. Halfway through I realized it'd become one of those shows where nothing would "happen" until the last couple of episodes or so.
For Barry, season three also feels relatively sparse although it doesn't clash as much with the style of previous seasons and feels like a natural evolution of the show. The comedy becomes more subdued, less high concept comedy of errors and more avant garde scene blocking and surreal editing choices. The world now is just weird and stilted, somewhere between Twin Peaks 2017 and Too Old To Die Young. What I don't like is how moralistic the show becomes, which means our characters are now all moody, guilty and miserable all the time.
This is a trend for TV in general - we can only enjoy antiheroes for so long before a show decides we've had enough and it's time to take the moral high ground and atone for all the fun in one last miserable season. Am I the only one who can watch a show about a hitman or a Jersey gangster or a meth dealer or a hasbeen 90s star or a bunch of feuding elites who would run me over and pay me off with pocket change and NOT need some kind of moral reckoning by the end of the story?
In any case, Barry S4 has become a damn good character study in its own weird made-up version of the world, and Succession S4 is off to one hell of a start. What I like about both is how they stick to their points of no return (maybe Barry moreso). It's really all about the characters and the story and not some bullshit content fabrication algorithm like Disney.
Two great HBO shows that started in 2018 and are ending things on their own terms in 2023 after 4 seasons. And Stephen Root is in both! u Succession swings freely from drama to comedy and Barry is comedy that 180's into drama after S2. Season 3 is where both shows change.
For Succession, the show was clearly a victim of the pandemic. There's less of it, many episodes feel like 'bottle episodes', there's less ostentation of crowds and locations (a contrast with the exuberance of previous seasons) and there's a general pervading feeling that the season is merely on holding pattern. Halfway through I realized it'd become one of those shows where nothing would "happen" until the last couple of episodes or so.
For Barry, season three also feels relatively sparse although it doesn't clash as much with the style of previous seasons and feels like a natural evolution of the show. The comedy becomes more subdued, less high concept comedy of errors and more avant garde scene blocking and surreal editing choices. The world now is just weird and stilted, somewhere between Twin Peaks 2017 and Too Old To Die Young. What I don't like is how moralistic the show becomes, which means our characters are now all moody, guilty and miserable all the time.
This is a trend for TV in general - we can only enjoy antiheroes for so long before a show decides we've had enough and it's time to take the moral high ground and atone for all the fun in one last miserable season. Am I the only one who can watch a show about a hitman or a Jersey gangster or a meth dealer or a hasbeen 90s star or a bunch of feuding elites who would run me over and pay me off with pocket change and NOT need some kind of moral reckoning by the end of the story?
In any case, Barry S4 has become a damn good character study in its own weird made-up version of the world, and Succession S4 is off to one hell of a start. What I like about both is how they stick to their points of no return (maybe Barry moreso). It's really all about the characters and the story and not some bullshit content fabrication algorithm like Disney.
Beef (Netflix)
Beef is a black comedy-drama series starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as two strangers who get into a road rage incident, and then escalate it... a lot.
Yeun plays Danny, a working class builder, Wong is Amy, a wealthy small business owner married to a rich but unsuccessful artist. There's plenty of depth and complexity to the characters. They are both very unhappy - that unhappiness is the source of the initial incident, and their ongoing tit-for-tat revenge that starts to spiral out of control. Danny is struggling financially and personally. Amy is stuck in a dull marriage drowning under the stress of providing for and managing her family. Throughout the series we get to see their lives and backgrounds in much more detail: although in ways they are horrible people, they are horrible for very human reasons, and this exists alongside virtues and their search to be better and happier. The plot perhaps tends to the absurd or exaggerated towards the end as the magnitude of disaster they inflict on each other and those around them ramps ever upwards, searching for the answer to whether they will eventually find some balance in their lives and back down or destroy each other.
This is one of those shows which some people might struggle with, as most of the other characters in it are also pretty flawed and / or horrible. However, I think it's a real gem - superbly written and engaging, and the leads put in some fantastic acting work to keep their characters relatable and sympathetic despite their sins. Probably one of the best shows I've seen in the last few years.
Beef is a black comedy-drama series starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as two strangers who get into a road rage incident, and then escalate it... a lot.
Yeun plays Danny, a working class builder, Wong is Amy, a wealthy small business owner married to a rich but unsuccessful artist. There's plenty of depth and complexity to the characters. They are both very unhappy - that unhappiness is the source of the initial incident, and their ongoing tit-for-tat revenge that starts to spiral out of control. Danny is struggling financially and personally. Amy is stuck in a dull marriage drowning under the stress of providing for and managing her family. Throughout the series we get to see their lives and backgrounds in much more detail: although in ways they are horrible people, they are horrible for very human reasons, and this exists alongside virtues and their search to be better and happier. The plot perhaps tends to the absurd or exaggerated towards the end as the magnitude of disaster they inflict on each other and those around them ramps ever upwards, searching for the answer to whether they will eventually find some balance in their lives and back down or destroy each other.
This is one of those shows which some people might struggle with, as most of the other characters in it are also pretty flawed and / or horrible. However, I think it's a real gem - superbly written and engaging, and the leads put in some fantastic acting work to keep their characters relatable and sympathetic despite their sins. Probably one of the best shows I've seen in the last few years.
Picard - Season 3 (Amazon Prime)
After the vast disappointment of the Q-laden, dimension-hopping season 2, Picard gets back some Star Trekky best - crusading around the galaxy fixing stuff. In this season, Picard once again abandons his incredibly long-suffering Romulan partner, this time to find Beverly Crusher, who disappeared about 2-3 decades before but has sent him a secret code. Obviously, this leads to an existential threat to the Federation / Galaxy, because that's what Star Trek does.
This isn't as good as season 1, but it works for just pressing the right sort of buttons for what you want from Star Trek. It is perhaps a little bit of a nostalgia wankfest in the sense it manages to bring back virtually the entire main cast of TNG, with only one of the old Picard regulars from S1-2 getting meaningful screen time. It has some significant plot holes, but you can ride them out (not least that Starfleet seems remarkably flimsy and incompetent, being completely unaware of anything amiss until some retirees pop up to save its sorry arse.)
I do wonder if this functioned as a second goodbye to the TNG characters, establishing a fresher-faced cast to carry any potential future seasons forwards. Patrick Stewart is showing his age - that magnificent voice seems to have lost some precision and he slurs his words frequently. But if he is hanging up his pips (again), will the show be strong enough to continue without him?
After the vast disappointment of the Q-laden, dimension-hopping season 2, Picard gets back some Star Trekky best - crusading around the galaxy fixing stuff. In this season, Picard once again abandons his incredibly long-suffering Romulan partner, this time to find Beverly Crusher, who disappeared about 2-3 decades before but has sent him a secret code. Obviously, this leads to an existential threat to the Federation / Galaxy, because that's what Star Trek does.
This isn't as good as season 1, but it works for just pressing the right sort of buttons for what you want from Star Trek. It is perhaps a little bit of a nostalgia wankfest in the sense it manages to bring back virtually the entire main cast of TNG, with only one of the old Picard regulars from S1-2 getting meaningful screen time. It has some significant plot holes, but you can ride them out (not least that Starfleet seems remarkably flimsy and incompetent, being completely unaware of anything amiss until some retirees pop up to save its sorry arse.)
I do wonder if this functioned as a second goodbye to the TNG characters, establishing a fresher-faced cast to carry any potential future seasons forwards. Patrick Stewart is showing his age - that magnificent voice seems to have lost some precision and he slurs his words frequently. But if he is hanging up his pips (again), will the show be strong enough to continue without him?
Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen (3/5)
It wasn't actually intentional that I ended up going from Tenth Planet to Revenge, just happened to be the DVDs available at the time. Anyway, this is better than Tenth Planet, but it's still OldWho, so that means the usual glut of wonky effects combined with wonky writing.
Anyway, Four, Sarah, and Harry (think that's what he's called?) end up on a space station where a plague is steadily doing a number on the crew. Only it's not a plague, it's cybermats, which are devices used by the cybermen. Cybermen who, in this serial, look better than just people in suits. Anyway, they want to destroy Vega, the planet (shouldn't it be an asteroid?) of gold, as gold is the one thing that can stop them as it clogs up their breathing aperatuses. Meanwhile, Vega is in the middle of a power struggle.
It's...fine, I guess? Really, it's just fine. Not much else to say.
The Little Mermaid: Season 1 (3/5)
So, per the 'research' I'm doing for the Little Mermaid story I'm doing, ended up watching this. This was approached with some trepidation since there was a really strong chance that my memories of the cartoon weren't going to hold up. Having watched it...well, the question of whether it holds up isn't really the right one, as I'm so far removed in age and mentality from when I watched it way, WAY back in the day. Anyway, I think it's reasonably decent, and as far as Disney's LM franchise goes, this is probably the best version of Ariel that exists - headstrong, naive even, but not an idiot, someone who can think on her feet (fins?), and is fundamentally a decent person.
Anyway, with that said, random other points are:
-This isn't really a critique of the series per se, but Ariel's relationship with Triton is weird in the context of this being a prequel. I'll deal with how things match up with the film Ariel's Beginning (or rather, don't), but something I noticed her is that compared to the film, their relationship is much better. Sure, there's the usual teen/father tensions you'd expect, and tensions that are specific to the setting (e.g. Triton forbidding Ariel any contact with humans/human objects), but I can't see this Triton being the same person he is in the film. As in, of course he's the same individual in a literal sense, but the Triton of the series is much more mellow, much more forgiving, much more tender. As in, I can't see this Triton destroying Ariel's human stash in the series, even if he found out. Obviously this is a question without any real answer, but I'm left to ask what made the shift in personality occur? Did he just have less patience by the time of the film, or did something else happen?
-Urchin features in the season more than I recall, and to me, that's a good thing. I liked Urchin back in the day, I like him now, and he's arguably the most sympathetic character in the season. Established as soon as we see him that he's an Urchin, so it's easily explained as to why he falls under the sway of Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp (who I'll say now are actually quite funny - it's slapstick that never feels overbearing). That in of itself is reasonable, but while the majority of episodes are stand-alone, I'll give the series credit for giving him something approximating an arc in this season, as in his final appearance on Father's Day (yes, apparently merfolk celebrate Father's Day), the whole thing hits home given his lack of a father, whereas at the end, he gives Triton a gift, who accepts him as his son, effectively. It's sweet, decent storytelling.
However, way before that, there's also the little tidbit that Urchin's in love with Ariel. This seems to be dropped later on as we go from this to a relationship that's never hinted as being anything but platonic, but there's an episode where everyone fears Ariel's being married off to Thor, the prince of Olympia (why is a Norse god the prince of a Greek-inspired city?). I bring it up because while the infatuation is clear, it's also clear that Urchin's got abandonment issues - it's not so much the fear of Ariel marrying someone else per se, it's also (probably more) the fear of him losing someone close to him as a result. This isn't groundbreaking by any means, but in a series made in the 90s with mostly stand-alone episodes, I'll give credit where it's due in regards to character development.
-What I'll also give some dues to is the Evil Manta. A name like that should tell you everything you need to know, but yes, the Evil Manta is an evil manta who does evil things for evil reasons, said evil things being spreading discord among Atlantica's citizens, causing them to despise each other, because...I dunno, he's evil I guess. Yeah, he's kinda like Discord from MLP, only bereft of a lot of the things that made Discord a great character. Still, I'll give credit for his design - it's a mix of a humanoid body with manta-like fins that evoke a bat, which in turn evokes a vampire. However, the episode in question where he does what he does, Ariel and Flounder are immune to his magic because...sigh, they're just such good friends, because of course, no-one else in Atlantica could ever have such a special friendship as them, or something. It's arguably worth noting that the flasback to Ariel and Flounder's first meeting in this episode is contradicted (retconned?) by the film Ariel's Beginning, but that's the film's fault, not the cartoon's, and kid!Ariel is a cutie, so there's that. But anyway, the solution to the Evil Manta's evil is to just sing a song, and all's right in the world. Yay...
Y'know, this is me overanalyzing, and it's borderline fanwank, but that Ariel singing is enough to break the Manta's magic, and that Ursula does take her voice through magic in the film, and that Ariel seems to use magic voice power in the 16-bit game (far as I can tell), does that mean that her voice has some kind of inherent magic or somesuch? Course not, what kind of stupid question is that, I hear you say, but I dunno - basically, this cartoon did it first, MLP did it better when it comes to these tropes.
-Still, there's an issue here - Ariel is the one who releases the Evil Manta, and she never really faces any ramifications for her actions. Indeed, the very next episode features the Evil Manta again, and all of Atlantica is at the point of "oh no, the Evil Manta has returned." Of the episode itself, I don't have much to say (though I challenge you to find another show that has a cowboy-esque standoff under the sea with empty boots in place of pistols), but, um, yeah.
-So in the episode "Beached," Ariel and Arista work together to prevent gators taking over the palace. This is actually symbolic of a wider issue with the series is that while royal guardsmen (mer?) clearly exist, their presence seems to fluctuate as the plot demands. For instance, the conceit here is that everyone is off to some kind of undersea fair or not, leaving the two girls "beached" after being brats. Okay, sure. By "everyone," that apparently did mean "everyone." Still, it's good to know that the experience has meant that Ariel and Arista are now closer, which will no doubt have ramifications in season 2 and...oh. They're back to hating each other again. Yay...
Anyway, yeah. The series is decent enough. I'll say outright that I think season 2 is overall better, but it's a minor difference at the end of the day.
It wasn't actually intentional that I ended up going from Tenth Planet to Revenge, just happened to be the DVDs available at the time. Anyway, this is better than Tenth Planet, but it's still OldWho, so that means the usual glut of wonky effects combined with wonky writing.
Anyway, Four, Sarah, and Harry (think that's what he's called?) end up on a space station where a plague is steadily doing a number on the crew. Only it's not a plague, it's cybermats, which are devices used by the cybermen. Cybermen who, in this serial, look better than just people in suits. Anyway, they want to destroy Vega, the planet (shouldn't it be an asteroid?) of gold, as gold is the one thing that can stop them as it clogs up their breathing aperatuses. Meanwhile, Vega is in the middle of a power struggle.
It's...fine, I guess? Really, it's just fine. Not much else to say.
The Little Mermaid: Season 1 (3/5)
So, per the 'research' I'm doing for the Little Mermaid story I'm doing, ended up watching this. This was approached with some trepidation since there was a really strong chance that my memories of the cartoon weren't going to hold up. Having watched it...well, the question of whether it holds up isn't really the right one, as I'm so far removed in age and mentality from when I watched it way, WAY back in the day. Anyway, I think it's reasonably decent, and as far as Disney's LM franchise goes, this is probably the best version of Ariel that exists - headstrong, naive even, but not an idiot, someone who can think on her feet (fins?), and is fundamentally a decent person.
Anyway, with that said, random other points are:
-This isn't really a critique of the series per se, but Ariel's relationship with Triton is weird in the context of this being a prequel. I'll deal with how things match up with the film Ariel's Beginning (or rather, don't), but something I noticed her is that compared to the film, their relationship is much better. Sure, there's the usual teen/father tensions you'd expect, and tensions that are specific to the setting (e.g. Triton forbidding Ariel any contact with humans/human objects), but I can't see this Triton being the same person he is in the film. As in, of course he's the same individual in a literal sense, but the Triton of the series is much more mellow, much more forgiving, much more tender. As in, I can't see this Triton destroying Ariel's human stash in the series, even if he found out. Obviously this is a question without any real answer, but I'm left to ask what made the shift in personality occur? Did he just have less patience by the time of the film, or did something else happen?
-Urchin features in the season more than I recall, and to me, that's a good thing. I liked Urchin back in the day, I like him now, and he's arguably the most sympathetic character in the season. Established as soon as we see him that he's an Urchin, so it's easily explained as to why he falls under the sway of Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp (who I'll say now are actually quite funny - it's slapstick that never feels overbearing). That in of itself is reasonable, but while the majority of episodes are stand-alone, I'll give the series credit for giving him something approximating an arc in this season, as in his final appearance on Father's Day (yes, apparently merfolk celebrate Father's Day), the whole thing hits home given his lack of a father, whereas at the end, he gives Triton a gift, who accepts him as his son, effectively. It's sweet, decent storytelling.
However, way before that, there's also the little tidbit that Urchin's in love with Ariel. This seems to be dropped later on as we go from this to a relationship that's never hinted as being anything but platonic, but there's an episode where everyone fears Ariel's being married off to Thor, the prince of Olympia (why is a Norse god the prince of a Greek-inspired city?). I bring it up because while the infatuation is clear, it's also clear that Urchin's got abandonment issues - it's not so much the fear of Ariel marrying someone else per se, it's also (probably more) the fear of him losing someone close to him as a result. This isn't groundbreaking by any means, but in a series made in the 90s with mostly stand-alone episodes, I'll give credit where it's due in regards to character development.
-What I'll also give some dues to is the Evil Manta. A name like that should tell you everything you need to know, but yes, the Evil Manta is an evil manta who does evil things for evil reasons, said evil things being spreading discord among Atlantica's citizens, causing them to despise each other, because...I dunno, he's evil I guess. Yeah, he's kinda like Discord from MLP, only bereft of a lot of the things that made Discord a great character. Still, I'll give credit for his design - it's a mix of a humanoid body with manta-like fins that evoke a bat, which in turn evokes a vampire. However, the episode in question where he does what he does, Ariel and Flounder are immune to his magic because...sigh, they're just such good friends, because of course, no-one else in Atlantica could ever have such a special friendship as them, or something. It's arguably worth noting that the flasback to Ariel and Flounder's first meeting in this episode is contradicted (retconned?) by the film Ariel's Beginning, but that's the film's fault, not the cartoon's, and kid!Ariel is a cutie, so there's that. But anyway, the solution to the Evil Manta's evil is to just sing a song, and all's right in the world. Yay...
Y'know, this is me overanalyzing, and it's borderline fanwank, but that Ariel singing is enough to break the Manta's magic, and that Ursula does take her voice through magic in the film, and that Ariel seems to use magic voice power in the 16-bit game (far as I can tell), does that mean that her voice has some kind of inherent magic or somesuch? Course not, what kind of stupid question is that, I hear you say, but I dunno - basically, this cartoon did it first, MLP did it better when it comes to these tropes.
-Still, there's an issue here - Ariel is the one who releases the Evil Manta, and she never really faces any ramifications for her actions. Indeed, the very next episode features the Evil Manta again, and all of Atlantica is at the point of "oh no, the Evil Manta has returned." Of the episode itself, I don't have much to say (though I challenge you to find another show that has a cowboy-esque standoff under the sea with empty boots in place of pistols), but, um, yeah.
-So in the episode "Beached," Ariel and Arista work together to prevent gators taking over the palace. This is actually symbolic of a wider issue with the series is that while royal guardsmen (mer?) clearly exist, their presence seems to fluctuate as the plot demands. For instance, the conceit here is that everyone is off to some kind of undersea fair or not, leaving the two girls "beached" after being brats. Okay, sure. By "everyone," that apparently did mean "everyone." Still, it's good to know that the experience has meant that Ariel and Arista are now closer, which will no doubt have ramifications in season 2 and...oh. They're back to hating each other again. Yay...
Anyway, yeah. The series is decent enough. I'll say outright that I think season 2 is overall better, but it's a minor difference at the end of the day.
Harry is his name, yes. Voga isn't technically a planet anymore, true, it's now a moon of Jupiter, but was a planet before it was attacked and presumed totally destroyed in the last cyber war or something, whereas in reality it was just knocked over into orbit around Jupiter. Don't think too much about that.
Generally, this is regarding as the weakest Cyberman story until Silver Nemesis, and probably the weakest of early Tom Baker Dr Who, though it doesn't help that it comes just before a good story and just after one that always gets put in lists of the best ever. They did release a new version where they changed some of the effects for not good reason.
And, as an aside, the sets and locations in this are good, because they were able to split to cost of the sets with The Ark in Space which uses the same ones, and they were able to film in Wookey Hole Caves at the last minute.
Picard - Season 3
The short answer is I hated it. I hated it so much, I didn't finish the last episode. I'm sure it would have completely blown my mind and the ending came out of left field, but I just sort of lost interest. Like I would rather clean the kitchen than keep watching. Picard reaches out to jack who overcomes blah blah, big tables turn everybody claps. Montage of the galaxy being saved.
The first few episodes were intriguing, but it was consistently downhill from there. Honestly it just came down to the writing. The acting for the most part was fine. I went into this show with a few strikes against it. I think there's two kinds of fans. There's the Andor fans and then theres Mandorian Season 2 fans. Was it the story or was it CGI luke skywalker that got you excited?
I love Star Trek, "Star Trek". The part where they boldly go, where they debate whether getting home is worth sacrificing alien creatures, negotiate with holograms that have taken over the ship in a revolt against slavery, where quark ruminates on how much worse and greedy humans are than the ferengi that it makes them jealous.
I don't care who is captain as long as their stories are intriguing. This entire season centered around one last hurrah for the actors playing characters from a show from 20+ years ago. That's sorta strike one for me. This show was a fairly standard mystery box jj abrams tv show inwhich see actors I don't really care about look surprised a lot and then say a lot of exposition for the audience while they fire the phasers. That was strike two. The third strike was that writing was so bad at moments it made me cringe.
There was a fascinating decision to have 100 year old obese Brent Spinner play Data. I don't recall what their explanation was, but "what Star Trek fan doesn't want to see Brent Spinner one last time?!". Me, I don't have specific nostalgia for Brent Spinner. I think Data, at one point, was a compelling character, but this one laughs and has very un-data like dialog in the context of emotion chip, Lor blah blah blah excuse not to have to think too hard about writing dialog for Data. I kept thinking the whole time, like why not actually do CGI for Data, he's android, its literally one time it would make sense and then have brent do voice overs or have him do disembodied voice. Thats not the point of this show. This was for fan to see their heroes kick ass one last time. *sigh* fuckin fans. The show does a lot of that, the same as Picard has done from the start. By the end of this you'll be thinking "Man, Star Fleet is extremely incompetent."
I'm not sure if it's ok to ruin the big reveal, only to say it's very contrived. Like imagine what a fanfic of a last season of Star Trek would look like if it were written by someone who thought First Contact was the best Star Trek movie and read cliffnotes and fan forums for TNG. It's just that again with more ex-machina solutions to everything. It's just not interesting Star Trek.
It reminded me a lot of Galaxy quest and Space Cowboys, assuming Galaxy quest wasn't self-aware. Imagine that, imagine if Galaxy Quest were 100% self-serious and not funny.
All that ranting summarized. If you liked First Contact and just want pew and some nostalgia, this is likely gonna be for you. If you're the type of person that asks questions during a movie and Moonfall made your nose bleed a little. I'd avoid this one.
The short answer is I hated it. I hated it so much, I didn't finish the last episode. I'm sure it would have completely blown my mind and the ending came out of left field, but I just sort of lost interest. Like I would rather clean the kitchen than keep watching. Picard reaches out to jack who overcomes blah blah, big tables turn everybody claps. Montage of the galaxy being saved.
The first few episodes were intriguing, but it was consistently downhill from there. Honestly it just came down to the writing. The acting for the most part was fine. I went into this show with a few strikes against it. I think there's two kinds of fans. There's the Andor fans and then theres Mandorian Season 2 fans. Was it the story or was it CGI luke skywalker that got you excited?
I love Star Trek, "Star Trek". The part where they boldly go, where they debate whether getting home is worth sacrificing alien creatures, negotiate with holograms that have taken over the ship in a revolt against slavery, where quark ruminates on how much worse and greedy humans are than the ferengi that it makes them jealous.
I don't care who is captain as long as their stories are intriguing. This entire season centered around one last hurrah for the actors playing characters from a show from 20+ years ago. That's sorta strike one for me. This show was a fairly standard mystery box jj abrams tv show inwhich see actors I don't really care about look surprised a lot and then say a lot of exposition for the audience while they fire the phasers. That was strike two. The third strike was that writing was so bad at moments it made me cringe.
There was a fascinating decision to have 100 year old obese Brent Spinner play Data. I don't recall what their explanation was, but "what Star Trek fan doesn't want to see Brent Spinner one last time?!". Me, I don't have specific nostalgia for Brent Spinner. I think Data, at one point, was a compelling character, but this one laughs and has very un-data like dialog in the context of emotion chip, Lor blah blah blah excuse not to have to think too hard about writing dialog for Data. I kept thinking the whole time, like why not actually do CGI for Data, he's android, its literally one time it would make sense and then have brent do voice overs or have him do disembodied voice. Thats not the point of this show. This was for fan to see their heroes kick ass one last time. *sigh* fuckin fans. The show does a lot of that, the same as Picard has done from the start. By the end of this you'll be thinking "Man, Star Fleet is extremely incompetent."
I'm not sure if it's ok to ruin the big reveal, only to say it's very contrived. Like imagine what a fanfic of a last season of Star Trek would look like if it were written by someone who thought First Contact was the best Star Trek movie and read cliffnotes and fan forums for TNG. It's just that again with more ex-machina solutions to everything. It's just not interesting Star Trek.
It reminded me a lot of Galaxy quest and Space Cowboys, assuming Galaxy quest wasn't self-aware. Imagine that, imagine if Galaxy Quest were 100% self-serious and not funny.
All that ranting summarized. If you liked First Contact and just want pew and some nostalgia, this is likely gonna be for you. If you're the type of person that asks questions during a movie and Moonfall made your nose bleed a little. I'd avoid this one.
Ted Lasso’s latest episode was uniquely good in that it ventured outside of its usual comfort zone as a show, and so did many of its characters. It was both broad strokes and intimate, switching gears in a way that may just be enough to revitalize a pathetic team. Love the reference to Bulls’ triangle offense, which would really be neat to see actually allied to soccer. Hoping they follow through with it.
I've been rewatching It's Always Sunny (currently in the middle of season 7) and the show is better than I remember. I was pretty surprised Frank/Devito comes into the show in fucking season 2, I though there were at least a few seasons without him. The show really hits it's stride around season 5 where every episode you're like "oh, this is the kitten mittens episode, the 'implications' boat episode, or the rum ham episode". The show is obviously just straight up funny and ridiculous at times, but it's also pretty smart in many ways. None of the characters are themselves very smart but the writing many times makes them dumb in a smart way (similar to classic Simpson's writing). Also, the show sometimes has very biting satire like the episode where the guys demand that Frank runs the bar like a democracy because they're upset at the money/pay situation; Franks goes along with that and basically keeps deflecting the main issue to an issue that doesn't matter like a dead dog in the alley or how to cut limes. And, it's basically a perfect satire of American politics where the politicians and media just deflect the important issues to something emotionally charged for the public to bicker over that's really not that important and won't change the status quo.
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I'm only 3 or 4 episodes in right now but I honestly don't find Yeun's character very likeable (not that he's not good in the role or entertaining), most of his problems are his own fault honestly. I feel like I'd have the same view of him if I personally met him in real life as the one guy and his wife have (that Yeun overhears where he extends the job to trim the tree), he's annoying and just basically get rid of him as he doesn't come off as genuine at all and I very much don't like that in people. I find Amy more likeable as her character feels legit in a bad place personally because of the people around her. I get that she has a well off life money-wise and all but she's obviously not happy and it isn't too much of her fault at least.
I just loved Jamie teaching Roy to ride a bike.
Dead Ringers S1E1
The feminist, serialized version of Cronenberg's 1988 movie. Rachel Weisz plays the twins, which were already helpfully named Beverly and Elliot when Jeremy Irons played then, so no change there, although one of them is gay now. I don't remember which is which but Weisz wears her hair down for the Alpha Twin and up in a knot for the Beta Twin. It's when the twins change their hair that you realize what a great actress she is, playing two characters pretending to be each other.
So the feminist angle. This isn't like in Silence of the Lambs where men adjust their behavior around Clarice due to their sexism, then deny it. It's the cartoon Gillete version of what sexism looks like, with the sisters rejecting some repulsive horndog in the first scene, then telling another who says Hi at a disco to fuck off, then a third dude can't help but masturbate in front of one of them at her office, etc.
I don't really like anybody in this. Everyone is angry, swearing and snapping at each other all the time. Everything seems to be coming from a place of bitterness.
The movie barely had a plot, replicated here with the gay twin dating an actress (whom the Alpha Twin seduces for her). They're adding more subplots, like looking for private funding for a new birthing center, and also the gay twin wants to get pregnant but can't. Now Weisz is 53 and looks fabulous but I don't think she's playing someone significantly younger than that. Isn't getting pregnant in your 50s somewhere between incredibly dangerous and a freak of nature? Wouldn't an OBGYN know better?
EDIT: Weisz herself got pregnant at 48, so hush my mouth.
The feminist, serialized version of Cronenberg's 1988 movie. Rachel Weisz plays the twins, which were already helpfully named Beverly and Elliot when Jeremy Irons played then, so no change there, although one of them is gay now. I don't remember which is which but Weisz wears her hair down for the Alpha Twin and up in a knot for the Beta Twin. It's when the twins change their hair that you realize what a great actress she is, playing two characters pretending to be each other.
So the feminist angle. This isn't like in Silence of the Lambs where men adjust their behavior around Clarice due to their sexism, then deny it. It's the cartoon Gillete version of what sexism looks like, with the sisters rejecting some repulsive horndog in the first scene, then telling another who says Hi at a disco to fuck off, then a third dude can't help but masturbate in front of one of them at her office, etc.
I don't really like anybody in this. Everyone is angry, swearing and snapping at each other all the time. Everything seems to be coming from a place of bitterness.
The movie barely had a plot, replicated here with the gay twin dating an actress (whom the Alpha Twin seduces for her). They're adding more subplots, like looking for private funding for a new birthing center, and also the gay twin wants to get pregnant but can't. Now Weisz is 53 and looks fabulous but I don't think she's playing someone significantly younger than that. Isn't getting pregnant in your 50s somewhere between incredibly dangerous and a freak of nature? Wouldn't an OBGYN know better?
EDIT: Weisz herself got pregnant at 48, so hush my mouth.
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