CW shows are like F2P games. They hook you with the first bit of fully available exciting content and then you're like 50 hours in asking what made you want to get involved in this in the first place because it's a downward trending miserable slog.
Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)
- Thread starter Hawki
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Alphas season 1 & 2
(Paid for copy)
Rating: 8/10
Review Tagline - What if the Xmen were a government sanctioned agency.
Premise:
So simple premise due to genetic mutations a small number of people in the world have developed abilities far beyond that if normal humans these are Alphas and psychiatrist and Neurologist Dr Lee Rosen has over the years come to specialise in treating people with Alpha abilities to help them deal with their abilities but also the downside many of the abilities bring with them and help them deal with the impact on their lives and help them better control their abilities. Dr Rosen and a select group of his patients have become a team helping the US government track down and either help treat or if needed lock away Alphas who get out of control to the extent they pose a danger to the public. However they and the government seem to be on a collision course with a Alpha terrorist group called Red Flag.
Thoughts:
Oddly after a fairly rough first episode the shows does work and start coming together with initially an episode of the week style format initially with a few longer arcs going on. Most episode have an Alpha in trouble or out of control the with team having to go in to deal with it. Season 2 then switches to slightly longer form almost cat and mouse style of episode as the team more directly go after Red Flag and it's leaders.
Personally I didn't like the seeming move the show took to reveal the big bad behind Red Flag and wish they'd kind of actually just left it as the (IMHO) far better implied leader of Red Flag that was revealed early in Season 1.
The characters are cool and the powers fairly well thought out.
Initially there's
Bill Harken - a government agent who has the ability to control and release his adrenaline and whole body fight or flight response to give him superhuman strength and endurance for a short duration, the downside is he is often on edge and due to this when another agent at his previous position at the FBI shoved him Harken's uncontrolled response broke the agents arm in multiple places.
Cameron Hicks - Exceptional hand to eye and body co-ordination allowing him to make impossible shots and throws along with a level of parkour skill due to being able to assess ledges and possible climbing points. The Downside is his abilities are somewhat tied to his emotional state and so losing confidence in his own abilities actually stops them working sending him into a depression.
Gary Bell - who can see and tap into any signals even many encrypted ones and see them like they're almost a portal TV. He can also ping cell phones and other connected devices too allowing him to be the eyes and ears of the team. His downside is his ability comes with Autism....... no really.
Rachel Pirzad - Basically a human crime lab, super enhanced senses such than on the ground on missions she can act to as a human tracker able to detect the number of people inside a building by focussing to listen on their heartbeats while also being able to analyse a scene and evidence with enhance vision making her able to see details normal humans would need a microscope for. Also she has an enhanced sense of spell allowing her to detect and follow specific scent or smell trails. Her downside, hypersensitivity be that to touch or to smells and sounds so if she gets too much input she can suffer sensory overload and enter a barely responsive state as though she's not actually in there and her mind is off elsewhere.
Nina Theroux - Nina's power is the power of suggestion. Looking a person in the eyes and telling them to do something will cause them to do it then often not remember what happened during that time and come out confused and disorientated from the suggestion state. The downside? Nina struggles with trust and has an impulsive streak as being able to make anyone do what she wants through her power she's always worried she has accidentally pushed a person and can do on accident, the other downside can be the impact on people she pushes as they will do just what she says but sometimes their consciousness will fight against the suggestions with unintended side effects.
Each character's powers have a sort of nice set of special effects laid in for them in the show to help the audience have a visual show of the powers too
(Paid for copy)
Rating: 8/10
Review Tagline - What if the Xmen were a government sanctioned agency.
Premise:
So simple premise due to genetic mutations a small number of people in the world have developed abilities far beyond that if normal humans these are Alphas and psychiatrist and Neurologist Dr Lee Rosen has over the years come to specialise in treating people with Alpha abilities to help them deal with their abilities but also the downside many of the abilities bring with them and help them deal with the impact on their lives and help them better control their abilities. Dr Rosen and a select group of his patients have become a team helping the US government track down and either help treat or if needed lock away Alphas who get out of control to the extent they pose a danger to the public. However they and the government seem to be on a collision course with a Alpha terrorist group called Red Flag.
Thoughts:
Oddly after a fairly rough first episode the shows does work and start coming together with initially an episode of the week style format initially with a few longer arcs going on. Most episode have an Alpha in trouble or out of control the with team having to go in to deal with it. Season 2 then switches to slightly longer form almost cat and mouse style of episode as the team more directly go after Red Flag and it's leaders.
Personally I didn't like the seeming move the show took to reveal the big bad behind Red Flag and wish they'd kind of actually just left it as the (IMHO) far better implied leader of Red Flag that was revealed early in Season 1.
The characters are cool and the powers fairly well thought out.
Initially there's
Bill Harken - a government agent who has the ability to control and release his adrenaline and whole body fight or flight response to give him superhuman strength and endurance for a short duration, the downside is he is often on edge and due to this when another agent at his previous position at the FBI shoved him Harken's uncontrolled response broke the agents arm in multiple places.
Cameron Hicks - Exceptional hand to eye and body co-ordination allowing him to make impossible shots and throws along with a level of parkour skill due to being able to assess ledges and possible climbing points. The Downside is his abilities are somewhat tied to his emotional state and so losing confidence in his own abilities actually stops them working sending him into a depression.
Gary Bell - who can see and tap into any signals even many encrypted ones and see them like they're almost a portal TV. He can also ping cell phones and other connected devices too allowing him to be the eyes and ears of the team. His downside is his ability comes with Autism....... no really.
Rachel Pirzad - Basically a human crime lab, super enhanced senses such than on the ground on missions she can act to as a human tracker able to detect the number of people inside a building by focussing to listen on their heartbeats while also being able to analyse a scene and evidence with enhance vision making her able to see details normal humans would need a microscope for. Also she has an enhanced sense of spell allowing her to detect and follow specific scent or smell trails. Her downside, hypersensitivity be that to touch or to smells and sounds so if she gets too much input she can suffer sensory overload and enter a barely responsive state as though she's not actually in there and her mind is off elsewhere.
Nina Theroux - Nina's power is the power of suggestion. Looking a person in the eyes and telling them to do something will cause them to do it then often not remember what happened during that time and come out confused and disorientated from the suggestion state. The downside? Nina struggles with trust and has an impulsive streak as being able to make anyone do what she wants through her power she's always worried she has accidentally pushed a person and can do on accident, the other downside can be the impact on people she pushes as they will do just what she says but sometimes their consciousness will fight against the suggestions with unintended side effects.
Each character's powers have a sort of nice set of special effects laid in for them in the show to help the audience have a visual show of the powers too
Except Stargirl and Swamp thing. Those two actually are good. Just know going in with Stargirl that it's not designed as an episodic show as such so you might have 0 fight scenes or action for 2 weeks running as they build up plot elements then basically a full episode long fight sequence / confrontation that it's built up to.
Suits, season 1 going on 2
Good example of one of those series where you’re left thinking, “How could someone so smart be so stupid?”. It’s entertaining enough in a streaming office drama kinda way, but can’t help getting the sense that these people wouldn’t behave quite like this IRL. Good casting though, and the second season brings a potential antagonist with enough ambiguity and misdirection to keep you guessing.
If I could fault it critically so far it would be that it all feels very constructed for the sake of itself as a show. Leans heavily into compartmentalization with plot threads and it’s not messy enough to feel real. Engaging drama has a breadcrumb trail of cause and effect that leads somewhere with a payoff (either good or bad), but that scarcely happens here. Season 2 hints at opening up more possibilities though, which will hopefully add some weight to these characters and what they’re involved in.
Good example of one of those series where you’re left thinking, “How could someone so smart be so stupid?”. It’s entertaining enough in a streaming office drama kinda way, but can’t help getting the sense that these people wouldn’t behave quite like this IRL. Good casting though, and the second season brings a potential antagonist with enough ambiguity and misdirection to keep you guessing.
If I could fault it critically so far it would be that it all feels very constructed for the sake of itself as a show. Leans heavily into compartmentalization with plot threads and it’s not messy enough to feel real. Engaging drama has a breadcrumb trail of cause and effect that leads somewhere with a payoff (either good or bad), but that scarcely happens here. Season 2 hints at opening up more possibilities though, which will hopefully add some weight to these characters and what they’re involved in.
I've been watching a lot of Bar Rescue lately. Bar industry expert John Taffer is summoned by failing bars to fix their problems and make them profitable again. It's an hour (well, since commercial breaks are about 4-5 minutes each and frequent, we'll call it 30 minutes) of Taffer obnoxiously jerking himself off while clearly inept bar owners and staff wait for him to fix everything and leave. What a shit show, in every way you can consume that phrase. So much of it is put on and overly dramatized, but you can't look away. If ANY of what we see is real, I'd say most of these people dug their own graves and don't deserve a rescue from an egotist like Taffer or otherwise. Bartenders getting drunk behind the bar, giving away drinks, disengaged owners, etc.; it's all just awful, and the "perfect" use of my time; I dislike reality television, but I like bars, so reality television revolving around bars somehow managed to suck me in. Send help. Also, don't eat ANYTHING at ANY bar.
Sam Jackson is 75 and it shows. He looks and sounds exhausted. I watched episode 2 as well. Not certain why. Maybe it will improve.
I loved everything about the Arron Paul episode except how it ended. It was really long and I got the impression it ended as it did not because it fit the story well but because they ran out of time and didn't know where to go from here.
I don't buy that the Josh character would do something that horrible. I think he would also understand that it was not the wife but Aaron himself saying the horrible things to him about him. They should have completed the story arc they seemed to be working upon, in particular get the Aaron guy to realize what he already has. But I think they ran out of time to do that.
Odd that this season had so little to do with technology. It was there sometimes. Other times, not so much. Unless you think of a VHS camera as cutting edge.
Very much enjoyed those seasons though by the end, it jumps the shark pretty hard.
> Also, what was up with making it look like this took place in 1970? Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the movies. Books from the period. Old fashioned cars and cash register. At best maybe as the opening is to remind us of the Manson murders?
I figured they were just going for an alternate history of the glory day of the space race, kind of like For All Mankind.
I figured they were just going for an alternate history of the glory day of the space race, kind of like For All Mankind.
Yup, IMDb describes it as an alternate 1969. Also didn’t think it earned its ending, but the other episodes were kinda bleh in that respect as well. It’s just that they weren’t as soul crushing and full of despair.
The Bear on Hulu Season 2 10 episodes
Last year IMDB gave the Bear episodes 7 and 8s. This year, 8s and 9s and they deserve it. I found it infinitely better than last year, which was good. Last year was never ending stress. This year had individual episodes that were joyous.
Episode 6 did get a 9.8 and I found it to just be one ball of stress and cringe. You can mostly just lookup a summary about it and miss it but it does add something to episode 10 with Jamie Lee Curtis as the mother.
But if everything is going too well, drama loses its reason for being, so, of course we end with some stressers.
Last year IMDB gave the Bear episodes 7 and 8s. This year, 8s and 9s and they deserve it. I found it infinitely better than last year, which was good. Last year was never ending stress. This year had individual episodes that were joyous.
Episode 6 did get a 9.8 and I found it to just be one ball of stress and cringe. You can mostly just lookup a summary about it and miss it but it does add something to episode 10 with Jamie Lee Curtis as the mother.
But if everything is going too well, drama loses its reason for being, so, of course we end with some stressers.
The Great Martian War
Pretty decent as a not terribly well done documentary, in the style of way too many over-sensationalised ones., though I've two main complaints about it. First, it doesn't make any sense if you think about it for even a moment, it's very much style over substance. Second, a big part of it's style is the use of real period footage, sometimes with Martian war machines edited in, which seems more than a little disrespectful.
Pretty decent as a not terribly well done documentary, in the style of way too many over-sensationalised ones., though I've two main complaints about it. First, it doesn't make any sense if you think about it for even a moment, it's very much style over substance. Second, a big part of it's style is the use of real period footage, sometimes with Martian war machines edited in, which seems more than a little disrespectful.
The Rig
8/10
(Free with Prime Video)
Premise:
The crew of the Kimloch Bravo oil rig were preparing for a change over with a number of them getting to go home having finished their latest time on the oil rig. Whatever plans they had are however thrown out of the window when a mysterious fog rolls in meaning no helicopters can come get them and a power fluctuation hits the rig followed by a mysterious tremor and massive pressure load. This is made worse by the loss of all contact with the outside world. The situation is made more dire when a crew member gets critically injured to the extent of needing a hospital and life saving surgery. Oh and then ash begins to mysteriously fall from the sky.
Thoughts in a tagline
Is this Lovecraft?
Expanded thoughts
Honestly I'd say this is possibly the best modern version of for a more appropriate term Lovecraftian or Cosmic horror. With some really actually cool visual story telling elements to the show that actually give visual changes to character development and arcs. Most of the effects are pretty good and oddly it's got quite a bit of grounding in real science concepts just taken a little further. It loses points because it does feel like a couple of episodes were mostly the show spinning its wheels to fill time with a formula of ' Something goes wrong on the rig, crew have to find a way to fix it, crew do daring / risky thing, disaster averted' and without these the show could maybe have been an episode or two shorter with a tighter story.
Spoilers thoughts be warned I'm spoiling it almost all now
So I like the fact the show really does keep you guessing as to what is going on until about the last 2 episodes. With episode 2 or 3 introducing the idea of the ash rain and fog having dropped a load of symbiotic spores over the platform that can infect people and cause rapid healing and regeneration of organisms they infect also causing the first of the crew infected to have prophetic visions of an impending disaster and begin acting irrationally. So initially it seems like a "The Thing" style scenario
As things progress however it seems more and more like something bigger is going on and these spores are something very old. The eventual reveal being a giant ancient mycelium network under the north sea and maybe longer that is an intelligent entity as such trying to act to protect itself and stop the earth becoming too damaged and being responsible for many mass extinction events on earth by manipulating the earths crust to cause devastation. Oh and the energy company running the place? They know about it and know it's been "infecting" oil wells turning all the oil back into organic matter and they've launched a plan to destroy the organism.
What I really liked was the evolution (and visual evolution) of the character Rose who starts off as a very prim proper corporate looking person with what I'd say was way too much make up and business attire with slicked back super neat pulled back hair. Only as she becomes more disillusioned with the energy company and starts to side with the rig workers more and more the make up lessens, she business shirt and skirt is replaced with rig worker gear and her hair while still tied back is far less tightly pulled back
8/10
(Free with Prime Video)
Premise:
The crew of the Kimloch Bravo oil rig were preparing for a change over with a number of them getting to go home having finished their latest time on the oil rig. Whatever plans they had are however thrown out of the window when a mysterious fog rolls in meaning no helicopters can come get them and a power fluctuation hits the rig followed by a mysterious tremor and massive pressure load. This is made worse by the loss of all contact with the outside world. The situation is made more dire when a crew member gets critically injured to the extent of needing a hospital and life saving surgery. Oh and then ash begins to mysteriously fall from the sky.
Thoughts in a tagline
Is this Lovecraft?
Expanded thoughts
Honestly I'd say this is possibly the best modern version of for a more appropriate term Lovecraftian or Cosmic horror. With some really actually cool visual story telling elements to the show that actually give visual changes to character development and arcs. Most of the effects are pretty good and oddly it's got quite a bit of grounding in real science concepts just taken a little further. It loses points because it does feel like a couple of episodes were mostly the show spinning its wheels to fill time with a formula of ' Something goes wrong on the rig, crew have to find a way to fix it, crew do daring / risky thing, disaster averted' and without these the show could maybe have been an episode or two shorter with a tighter story.
Spoilers thoughts be warned I'm spoiling it almost all now
So I like the fact the show really does keep you guessing as to what is going on until about the last 2 episodes. With episode 2 or 3 introducing the idea of the ash rain and fog having dropped a load of symbiotic spores over the platform that can infect people and cause rapid healing and regeneration of organisms they infect also causing the first of the crew infected to have prophetic visions of an impending disaster and begin acting irrationally. So initially it seems like a "The Thing" style scenario
As things progress however it seems more and more like something bigger is going on and these spores are something very old. The eventual reveal being a giant ancient mycelium network under the north sea and maybe longer that is an intelligent entity as such trying to act to protect itself and stop the earth becoming too damaged and being responsible for many mass extinction events on earth by manipulating the earths crust to cause devastation. Oh and the energy company running the place? They know about it and know it's been "infecting" oil wells turning all the oil back into organic matter and they've launched a plan to destroy the organism.
What I really liked was the evolution (and visual evolution) of the character Rose who starts off as a very prim proper corporate looking person with what I'd say was way too much make up and business attire with slicked back super neat pulled back hair. Only as she becomes more disillusioned with the energy company and starts to side with the rig workers more and more the make up lessens, she business shirt and skirt is replaced with rig worker gear and her hair while still tied back is far less tightly pulled back
Absent
And twice is the only way to live.
- Jan 25, 2023
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Resuming Poker Face. Love it. It's a bit on the cheap side, plot-wise (the gimmicky pitch, plus the helpful coincidences, make it a bit sleuthing god mode) but that's not the point. The dialogue is great, Lyonne is as enjoyable as ever, the characters are pleasant, the stories stay unpredictable (in part precisely because the procedural is secondary), the whole is fun, funny, silly, entertaining.
It mimicks Columbo, but it's not. Columbo is about cunning detective work. Poker Face only borrows the style, some character types and some dynamics. In a way, it's closer to Monk, where the whodunit matters less than the characters interactions, and goes even farther in that direction. What it does, it does it great. What it doesn't do very well, well I think it doesn't even try. Or cares about. Not much outwitting on display.
It's like you pass Columbo through a filter to just retain a concentrate of its heart and comedy. Like the dessert : less varied combination of flavors, but still intense and tasty for the one it offers.
It mimicks Columbo, but it's not. Columbo is about cunning detective work. Poker Face only borrows the style, some character types and some dynamics. In a way, it's closer to Monk, where the whodunit matters less than the characters interactions, and goes even farther in that direction. What it does, it does it great. What it doesn't do very well, well I think it doesn't even try. Or cares about. Not much outwitting on display.
It's like you pass Columbo through a filter to just retain a concentrate of its heart and comedy. Like the dessert : less varied combination of flavors, but still intense and tasty for the one it offers.
Watched the first episode of season 3 of The Witcher, still wondering when will I start caring about it lol
I love the game (The Wild Hunt), but the show is so poorly written with characters uttering ultra-cliché lines we see coming full 2 mins before they happen on screen, it becomes tiring after a while...
I can tell that Cavill is really into the role, but this show is perhaps the biggest proof that the screenplay can make or break a TV show regardless of its production values...
And it's far too late for this one IMO
I love the game (The Wild Hunt), but the show is so poorly written with characters uttering ultra-cliché lines we see coming full 2 mins before they happen on screen, it becomes tiring after a while...
I can tell that Cavill is really into the role, but this show is perhaps the biggest proof that the screenplay can make or break a TV show regardless of its production values...
And it's far too late for this one IMO
I'm A Virgo - (Prime)
Suppose the quickest way to summarise this would be "Boots Riley does The Boys." So far an enjoyable watch. If you liked Sorry To Bother You, this keeps the high level quality going, especially with the loveable cast and endearing imaginative approach to special effects.
Trailer!
Suppose the quickest way to summarise this would be "Boots Riley does The Boys." So far an enjoyable watch. If you liked Sorry To Bother You, this keeps the high level quality going, especially with the loveable cast and endearing imaginative approach to special effects.
Trailer!
I loved Sorry to Bother You! I had no idea the director was working on a show. I'll be sure to watch it.
I think we’ll find out after this season that Cavill himself can make or break the show, let alone the writing which doesn’t look to get any more hopeful.
- Feb 7, 2011
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I just watched all 6 seasons of The Expanse on Amazon Prime over the course of a month and a half. It's a very good piece of sci-fi and I greatly enjoyed it.
There's a lot of great attention to detail in the show in trying to portray zero gravity dog fighting in space as realistically as possible. I absolutely love things like the ships often being shown as flying "backward" because they flip around to use their main thruster to decelerate, or the detail that any kind of internal bleeding (even minor) in zero gravity can be lethal.
Would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys sci-fi.
There's a lot of great attention to detail in the show in trying to portray zero gravity dog fighting in space as realistically as possible. I absolutely love things like the ships often being shown as flying "backward" because they flip around to use their main thruster to decelerate, or the detail that any kind of internal bleeding (even minor) in zero gravity can be lethal.
Would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys sci-fi.
I’m told if you like the show then the books are even better. I personally didn’t care for the Expanse but I gotta respect the effort they packed in.