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

[Johnny Novgorod]

Still watching Outer Range. It's fine - solid mystery box show. It stands somewhere inside a triangle made of TV's Fargo, Twin Peaks: The Return and a Taylor Sheridan project. I'm not super invested in any of the characters and if the mystery doesn't stick the landing that'll be fine too. The acting's solid, there's no boring parts and the cliffhangers are all 10/10.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Nope, can't see it in the US but it is what I fear, vilifying a group of sad, lonely guys that typically cannot get out of their way. The term simply means "involuntary celibate".

Well...yes. But being involuntarily celibate doesn't make someone an incel, they have to go and take the big step of adopting a truly horrible ideology. They are not nearly vilified enough.

EDIT:

On the other hand are harmless sad, lonely guys who could maybe simply use a few pointers, but also have it pointed out to them that for the vast, vast, vast majority of men, Hugh Heffner's fantasy playboy existence isn't real.

I think by the time they are calling themselves incels it's probably too late, but then pointing out to everyone that it's not real helps. Even for Hugh Hefner himself, now he's dead a lot of stuff is coming out about him. Now, to be fair, a lot of it is hardly a surprise, it just went unspoken that he was much worse than he liked to pretend.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

The other side of that, is the mere act of having sex likely isn’t going to change people’s lives in some grandly dramatic way. Whatever personal issues that were there before will still be there after. The greater underlying issue I think is wanting to be loved, or at least being legitimately desirable, in a healthy relationship, etc. A lot of sexually actively people still don’t have those things, and its effect on the psyche is similar. Others may use money to fill the void, and are essentially hopeless on a humanistic level.

Ultimately though, an obsession with sex and getting laid doesn’t look good on anyone. Well, maybe pornstars.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Black Mirror: Joan is Awful

Possibly the first mainstream jab at the future of AI entertainment, yet nobody will really care of course since as soon as they get the viewers’ blood boiling they douse it with cold water. It’s ultimately played as outfield comedy but also none of it would surprise me as being a not too distant reality. It’s also the season opener so they probably figured let’s not sour our audience’s moods out the gate.

Started episode 2 but fell asleep.

 

[Absent]

Actually started Black Mirror. Watched the very first episode (really season 1 ep 1). Was more fun and less deep than expected, but I don't expect this to be representative of the series, doesn't match its reputation (of thought-provoking direness). And anticipation is hard.

Being late to the party amuses me, precisely because I've heard that some alrrady old Black Mirror situations have been met in real life since (anticipation is hard), so I look forward to comparisons.

Also finally watched the entirety of Hellsing Abridged. Even though I'll never know for sure how I'd have appreciated it without Ultimate in the background (and I'll never know how I'd have appreciated Ultimate without the first series in the background - I strongly suspect a cascading effect of each one being a prerequisite to enjoy the next one), I do regret that Abridged hadn't existed as an original series. It feels less "parody" than "correction".

Also made me want to check what else that team has done. I might watch their famous DBZ Abridged, but given how boring and unappealing I find the source material, it probably won't be the same relationship. Plus length.

 

[gorfias]

Actually started Black Mirror. Watched the very first episode (really season 1 ep 1). Was more fun and less deep than expected, but I don't expect this to be representative of the series, doesn't match its reputation (of thought-provoking direness). And anticipation is hard.

Being late to the party amuses me, precisely because I've heard that some alrrady old Black Mirror situations have been met in real life since (anticipation is hard), so I look forward to comparisons.

Also finally watched the entirety of Hellsing Abridged. Even though I'll never know for sure how I'd have appreciated it without Ultimate in the background (and I'll never know how I'd have appreciated Ultimate without the first series in the background - I strongly suspect a cascading effect of each one being a prerequisite to enjoy the next one), I do regret that Abridged hadn't existed as an original series. It feels less "parody" than "correction".

Also made me want to check what else that team has done. I might watch their famous DBZ Abridged, but given how boring and unappealing I find the source material, it probably won't be the same relationship. Plus length.

S1E1 is so gross that when I recommend the show, I often tell people they can just skip it but I watched an analysis of it and it is pretty deep. To this day, S1E2 is my favorite. It was fascinating.

Some of these do come across as comic. The Twilight Zone a million years ago would have some really scary episode, some comic and everything in between. Black Mirror does that too.

I thought there were some pretty fun and interesting ideas in S6E1.

Reminds me a bit of this 1999 film.

Spoiler

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

The Gryphon - Season 1

(Amazon Prime - Free)



Score: 8/10

Thoughts in a tagline: Das ist stonger thangs

Premise:

Mark's family have a legacy, a legacy documented in a book called The Chronicle which documents a dangerous other world called The Black Tower ruled over by a dimension hopping being called The Gryphon who has enslaved the inhabitants to do his bidding. Mark's family legacy is one of trying to stop the Gryphon or at least that's what his father told him before he burned himself alive in front of his sons in what was described as a mental health breakdown. Thomas, Mark's brother tried to take up the family legacy before but Mark's mother had him committed to a mental health institute. Mark now seeing a therapist and helps run a music store with Thomas and their friend / employee Memo in between going to school. Mark mostly seems to think the Black Tower and the family legacy is one of mental illness with the Black Tower being a sort of focus for the delusions. The question is, is it?


Thoughts:

So to spoil a small part of the ending but this will give you some sort of idea about tone of the series and feel of it. One of the final parts of the series is a series of news reports about the suicide of Kurt Cobain........... No I'm not joking, this is actually part of how the series ends.

To be clear my knowledge of Stranger Things is mostly through pop culture osmosis rather than watching the actual show but from my tagline you can that I feel like this is a series trying to cash in on the Stranger Things success only years on. It's set in 1994, with a metal / rock soundtrack, about teens / young adults combating a supernatural threat from another world. The sort of big difference here is just the sheer dark tone of it as the show often makes you question early on if Mark is mentally ill or if The Black Tower is real. The later half of the series focussing a lot on the impact people doubting Mark and seeing him as mentally ill for so long has had on him and the sort of struggles to deal with that.

In terms of the big monster The Gryphon it's a masterclass in building up a villain and actually terrifying creature design to make something like a griffin terrifying and sinister.

For what I'm guessing Amazon hopes will be it's Stranger Things, it seems a shame it was dumped onto the service with little fanfare (though that's becoming increasingly common for Amazon shows from non English speaking countries, even if they are dubbed into English). I actually hope this does carry on because while it's an ok ending to the story it does set up a lot for a second season and as this is based on a German novel with no English translation this show really is the only way (short of learning German or some black market translations) that I can actually see what the rest of the story brings.

If you are going into this though just be warned, this is Stranger Things but darker and less cheerful but in doing so making the moments of hope of happiness shine brighter in the series.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Black Mirror: Loch Henry, Beyond the Sea, and Mazey Day

LH goes for the red herring more than the latter two, and was the strongest episode so far in terms of creep factor and suspense. Also for how shallow and devoid of sympathy the entertainment industry can be when money is on the table.

BtS was something you could see coming miles away, but they saved a morbid twist for the very end. Probably my least favorite so far even though both Hartnett and Paul were characteristically strong. Also required the most suspension of disbelief and plot holes to work.

MD was a pure classic horror applied to modern day. Fun, but man this show is consistent on displaying overkill moments of classless behavior here and there. You’ll know it when you see it. I doubt it would change anything about those types if they saw it themselves though.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Black Mirror season 6 (NettleFlix)
Maintains high quality seal of approval, though with slightly more dark humour and non-despair endings which hopefully may appeal to those who were less attuned to omnipresent sadness. Felt a bit more classic or pulpy than usual, with less reliance on technology (the 'countdown to finding out they're in a simulation' anticipatory thoughts are mostly given a longer break too) for twists and cudgels. The Jessie Pinkman episode might as well be sub-titled: FORSHADOWING! Biggest criticism is it's over already, a single binge and it's gone. Can't help meself, so maybe is just self-criticism, but can't seem to find motivation for enjoying anything else on telly either way.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Smosh was never really part of my childhood, but it was fascinating to watch two grown men you remember being incredibly immature, loud, and annoying having a serious, unfiltered, and emotional discussion about some very touchy subjects. Their chemistry together even after all this time is still something else. Who doesn't love seeing two best friends just being friends? I don't see myself going out of my way to watch their new content, but I do genuinely hope they find success.

 

[SilentPony]

So I watched the first episode of Secret Invasion. Ohhh boy this show is going to annoy me. Now I know why comic fans were so fucking annoyed by the original Secret Invasion run. Its very fucking cheap suspense to just have shape shifting evil aliens.
Also between alternate realities, time travel, and everyone was an alien the whole time, any deaths that may take place are completely meaningless.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

So I watched the first episode of Secret Invasion. Ohhh boy this show is going to annoy me. Now I know why comic fans were so fucking annoyed by the original Secret Invasion run. Its very fucking cheap suspense to just have shape shifting evil aliens.
Also between alternate realities, time travel, and everyone was an alien the whole time, any deaths that may take place are completely meaningless.

Ah. So this is what my friend was referring to when he said people were annoyed by episode 1.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Black Mirror, new season

Utterly delightful. Yes, it's not really the old Black Mirror, it's really more like Twilight Zone now- less about the horrors of technology and more just quirky stories with a supernatural bent (where that "supernatural" element may or may not be technological in nature).
I enjoyed them all, and the ones I enjoyed less than the ones I enjoyed more were either the very long ones or the ones where the plot or setup kinda doesn't make a lot of sense (like the one with Aaron Paul).

You know who's great? The star of that last episode. She was in the last season of Killing Eve (and the only good thing about that abomination) but even better, this little show where she joins a punk rock band of fellow British Muslim women. Her name is Anjana Vasan and I'm gonna make it a point to watch whatever she's in.

 

[Gordon_4]

Professor T, BritBox

This remake of a Belgian series by the British is a crime drama set in Cambridge in the crime consultant model. To whit, Ben Miller plays Jasper Tempest, professor of criminology at a Cambridge college who gets roped into helping the local CID solve crimes.

Now sure this is formula, a familiar one by now for British police procedurals so there’s no reinventing the wheel going on. Aside from Professor T being autistic and having OCD (both traits of which brought the show some censure from advocacy groups) there wasn’t a lot of anything new here. Then the odd Family Guy like cutaway gags that show Jasper’s inner opinions or realisations start appearing. The first of which (taking me totally by surprise) involved moustachioed American cheerleaders doing a routine with signs spelling out ‘Infidelity’ to him. A later one illustrates his displeasure at a student late for lecture (one about the impulse to murder no less) by imagining him machine gunning the young woman with a Bren gun that fires rainbows.

 

[Thaluikhain]

"Jasper Tempest, professor of criminology" seems like the name of a rightly forgotten comic book character from the 60s.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Finished Black Mirror

I did like the playful English accent they gave Gaap in Demon 79, and how it ended with people being like, ”Whelp, she was ri…”*vaporized*

Still think the first couple were strongest. If there was a theme for the season it would probably be that of betrayal, or specifically that you basically can never really know a person. Also AI will probably make it worse.

 

[Gordon_4]

"Jasper Tempest, professor of criminology" seems like the name of a rightly forgotten comic book character from the 60s.

The name really does have that feeling of forced sixties cool doesn't it.

 

[Piscian]

Marvel's Secret Invasion Episode 1

I wish I had more to say about this one. It's just... not that interesting. In the opening scene a paranoid agent channeling ASIP's Charlie tries to convince another agent that all the recent terrorist attacks are actually Skrulls trying to heat up global tensions, and the other agent has a sort of laissez-faire response that terrorism is always happening, who cares? I couldn't help empathizing. Marvel has run this gameplan back so many times that this storyline is not going to pack a punch on it's own.

To the storys credit here it's somewhat vaguely explained that the Skrulls are disenfranchised. I guess there was some kind of expectation set that Humanity was going to help them, but instead they are left homeless so now they're invading earth. However, counting against the show, it's not really explained why the skrulls can't comfortably live here in secret or just come out and approach the governments for amnesty. There's only a few thousand of them supposedly. The show "feels" like theres DLC content missing in the setup.

Furthering the missing DLC thread. Nick Fury is back, from....S.A.B.E.R. The show tries to create this Faster & Furious aspect of the characters that they are "family" and deeply connected. There's a lot wistfulness between Nick, Maria HIll, and Talos (ben mendelsohn). The problem is that as the audience you've seen all these characters before, but this doesn't quite feel earned. Additionally theres a convoluted baggage subplot where Nick has been gone for long time and not contacted anybody. This doesn't really make sense as these folks are all law enforcement with actual governed entities. This feels like another show that doesn't understand how federal law enforcement works. It just feels awkward.

The dialog in the show is ..blah. It largely boils down to characters providing plot information to the audience, the soul highlight is Talos feeling at odds with stopping the Skrulls. There's a really well executed line towards the midpoint where he perfectly emotes his distaste for violence and being forced to hurt his own people. This is only somewhat undermined by it happening at the end of a ridiculous WWE style wrestlefuck with another Skrull. Ben Mendelsohn is too good for this show.

If you are interested in my usual imdb deepdive nonsense, this show was created and written by the Guy who did Mr. Robot. I can't find any fault with the staffing, it's reasonably competent. If Andor is a 10/10 and Falcon America is a 0/10 this is around a 5/10. Feels like a spy show you'd see on basic cable, but with Skrulls.

One of the glaring issues I kinda see is that this was created during Marvels "Content" period. So in the back of my mind I'm like "it's ok, but is this going to go any where interesting?". I suspect it will not. If they don't continue constantly advertising it, I'm going to forget it's on.

 

[Xprimentyl]

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: S16: Ep1-4

The first two episodes were largely "meh" for me given I was really anticipating this latest season, but episodes 3 and 4 (for me) turned out to be instant classics. I much prefer when episodes are siloed events, eschewing longer, multi-episode story arcs for 20-minute punches to the giggle box, these last two were perfect. Without explanation, we get each character being their most "selves" at a high level. Curses and anal beads. Come on in; the water is perfect! I hope the rest of the season rides this high.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I have Supergirl seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, so I watched them again (never actually saw the last few eps of season 2 before) while playing on my computer, because they aren't worth concentrating on. Supergirl season 3 was on 9now the other week but has been replaced but season 4.

Hey, it's like the realised they could maybe start thinking about making a not bad show. Then suddenly changed their mind and went back to the usual.)

(Also watched Batwoman season 1 on DVD which is superior due to Rachel Skarsten and clever lighting but otherwise wasn't very good either)