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

[Xprimentyl]

The Penguin: Ep. 1-6

A spin-off series revolving around Colin Farrell's character Penguin from 2022's The Batman film. It showcases the characters tumultuous attempt at a rise to power as he juggles underestimation and the heads of the most prominent crime families in Gotham.

The show is good, not necessarily as "amazing" as many have tried to lead me to believe (it's your rote mafia schtick,) but is still very good. But what IS amazing is Colin Farrell. It is rare to see that kind of complete transformation; you could stand Farrell next to himself as the Penguin, and you'd not even imagine the two were even related let alone the same person. The make-up team has done a simply unbelievable job, and Farrell a stellar execution of the role. I'm going to finish the series today and try not to constantly distract myself gawking at "Farrell Penguin" trying to see the seams that honestly aren't there.

EDIT: Just finished Ep 7 - 8, and wow, there were a couple of jarring reminders that I was watching the origins of a villain here. I caught myself rooting for Penguin (the de facto "protagonist") as he outsmarted his rivals, but was quickly reminded that he's trying to be the best (worst) of the bad guys, and that there's no happy ending and no one to root for. Sheesh. Recommended.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

The Rig: Season 2

Rating: 9 / 10

On: Prime video

Tagline to actually get you to read my thoughts: Cthulhu has awoken, how will humanity now react?



Why no promo image? Because season 1 spoilers


Premise of season 2: So kind of hard to talk much about season 2 without spoiling season 1 suffice to say a bit even happened and while the survivors of the Kimlock Bravo thought they were going home it was revealed they were.

Welcome to The stac, a secret arctic research and sea floor mining exploration station where the survivors are offered a chance sign and agreement and be set for life at the expense of helping the energy company Picta cover up what happened in season 1 or wait around on the stac because the only way off is by helicopter. But not everyone can leave right away as some of the crew are needed to help the skeleton crew of the The Stac deal with a crisis as one the their ocean floor survey teams have gone missing their rover disconnected from the stac that supplies the vehicle both it's air on oxygen and their back ups have about 30 minutes left. The question is why did the survey team lose contact and is there something more sinister going under the ice and above it as new allies and new enemies emerge........


Thought non spoiler version: I liked season 2 though I will feel this felt a bit lighter on character development outside of 2 and a lot of that is more relationship drama / development than major character arcs. I did like the new characters both heroes and villains introduced in this series and It's great to see them keep the kind of feeling of the first season, the isolation, the unknown, the strange happenings which will keep you somewhat guessing what's happening until the end. Oh and while I described the first season as a modern Lovecraft style show I'd say this series works to subvert that a bit in interesting ways.

Thoughts slightly more spoiler version:
So season 1 ended with a massive Tsunami hitting the east coast of the UK caused by a mycelium network called they nickname "The ancestor" Season 2 reveals how Coake knew about the entity as the Stac was researching it with a woman Rose knew overseeing it but not fully knowing of Coakes plans to start a war with it.

This season splits the screw with 2 of the cast going back to land to find loved ones and try to get the story out in such a way the Energy companies lawyers can't prove who the leak was, 1 of the new cast going there to help the Energy company cover up events in part believing she is using the company as a resource for good, the other half are dealing initially with a lose survey team which then turns into something bigger as a possible 2nd ancestor has been found or possibly a larger part of the first one stretching far further and the team rushing to try once again to understand this new entity while also dealing with Coake and his allies working to once again trying to kill the thing believing it's a threat. Only this ancestor is less passive than the first and more aggressive raising questions as to if this ancestor poses even more of a risk than the first one and is an active threat.



Thoughts fully spoiling the ending

So I want to talk about the ending but don't want to spoil too much leading to it. The first reveal this season is the company was lying about chemicals being used in mining being removed from the environment after which is causing the ancestor pain so believing it's under attack it started attacked the Ocean floor survey teams first crying out for help then when it go no response believing them to be hostile and attacking them especially as they were approaching it's "Heart" or the core part of the organism, the 2nd reveal, the ancestor isn't threatening humanity, it's literally how life returns to earth after an extinction level event, its the back up of life on earth as such as so Coake trying to destroy it won't doom humanity because it will fight back, it will doom humanity because the next extinction event could be coming and The ancestor is the only back up.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Those About to Die

Rating: 5/10

On: Prime video

Tagline to get you to read more of my thoughts: "Don't trust the gays they are fickle and selfish" - probably one of the writers on this show.



Premise: So it's the Flavian dynasty era in Rome and the show is about the plots and schemes happening in higher Roman society with the circus maximus playing a key role in many schemes with it being used to placate the masses chariot races and games and other events often done with more political intent to sow discord and influence the general populous in certain directions as an insult against others in high society. Meanwhile those in the plebian levels of society struggle to better themselves and end up caught up in the machinations of the patrician classes.

The main plotlines are as follows as this is very much a many threated story with them crossing and colliding.

Tenax - a Plebian and minor underworld figure who runs a few enterprises out of the bowels of the circus maximums with his main one being his betting tavern but with dreams of being seen as part of higher society Tenax's plot and race fixing with the aid of his friend and champion chariot driver Scorpius are how he plans to get there by changing the circus maximus forever by getting the rights (and percentage gate takings) from founding a new faction. This is complicated by the fickle whims of Domitian and a face from his past resurfacing with a grudge to bear against him.

Cala - An African woman who ran a trading post whose trying to get her children back after Legionnaires took them into slavery, her daughters for the death of a commander after he tried to rape one of them and they stabbed him and her son for his attempts to rescue them turning into a fight against the soldiers. After Tenax buys one of her daughters she comes to work for Tenax to try and find a way to get her release while figuring out how they could possibly get her other daughter back and dealing with her son whose now ended up training as a gladiator

Titus - dealing with his fathers death and trying to navigate the world of politics which he finds can't be run quite like a military campaign while also dealing with his brother who is jealous of him being named emperor by his father.

Domitian - Jealous and petty trying to undermine Titus as much as he can while also dealing with other enemies that look to take down Titus in such a way that could threaten his ascent to being emperor.

The Blue faction - working to try and undermine the whole Flavian dynasty and turn the senate against them for what they see as the Flavians being jumped up plebians who got boosted up above their station in life.

The brothers - coming to Rome to make a name and a better life for themselves initially coming just to sell their horses but finding more to stay round for.

Antonia - Queen of the Jews, lover of Titus and trying to do what she can to free her people from Roman slavery as they're used to build the coliseum

Thoughts: I enjoyed HBOs Rome, it was lower budget than Game of Thrones and straining against it's budget but Those about to die feels like it wants to be Game of Thrones but somehow manages to look lower budget than Ben Hurr because of it's just of CGI that seems to have had the CGI technology of Babylon 5 repurposed to try and create the circus maximum scenery and races which when much of the show is about politics round the races and on the track events that impact them it's unfortunate the races themselves look so bad.

The races being bad aren't the only issue though as the plots seem to be done just to be edgy somewhat and while HBO's Rome was vaguely base on historical documents with two characters having fictionalised stories but created based on real people mentioned by Julius Caesar in his writings as people who held in high regard such that their story and roles in other events makes sense and plays with the idea of Caesar being familiar with them because they were about so much in relation to various events not just 1. Those About to Die decides to throw a fair bit of history out the window and to lean far more into history. In only 1 account I've found has it been suggested that Domitian was gay and that wasn't considered reputable, more so are sources about his possible affair with his own niece but Those about to Die has him as gay and a bit of a sadist and voyeur having gay orgies in his chambers which to be clear not my thing but a gay character isn't something I'd take issues with........... except in this game but more on that in the spoilers section. The changing of history to not even be able to be argued to be possible based on surviving records doesn't help the plot which seems to lurch about in terms of pace from long drawn out plots with little happening to suddenly everything happening at once in multiple of the stories going on. It's very unevenly paced and some plots seem to rush to their conclusion faster than I think they deserve to be.


Thoughts spoilers and "Social commentary"

OK I wanted to put this into spoilers but also talk "social commentary" or in this case rather than "Woke" content I'm actually going to say I found this show problematic. I'm not gay but if I were the show where all the gay characters are monsters or fickle or selfish would be one I'd be quite offended by. Domitian is basically gay Joffrey and arguably as much if not more punch able with a serious sadistic streak. His long suffering favourite lover whom he somewhat uses and abuses is shown as having basically no loyalty and will happily turn on anyone or betray anyone pretty easily but even so Domitian having his tongue ripped out then feeding him to alligators as a show for the crown in the new coliseum seems a bit much. He also very much hates the Jews and Titu's lover. Domitian is cruel and vindictive throughout

If it was just 1 gay character I'd have said it was a one off but Cala's eldest daughter gets freed from slavery and starts work at the betting Tavern alongside her mother only to meet and fall for a woman she meets on a night out and upon learning that her new lover is a female gladiator who sold herself to the arena for money she promptly (and without consulting her mother who freed her not long before) also sells herself to the areana.......... for no apparently rhyme or reason beyond "The girl I'm shagging did it"

Now you might think ok so that's 2 and the second isn't really that bad............ and then we get to Tenax's backstory as he was part of a Roman villa household and one of the favourites alongside another boy of the patrician who despite them being children he rapes and abuses them with Texas and the other boy finally enacting a plan to escape the abuse only for it to go wrong and the other boy to blame Tenax for the fallout and impact on his life and the patrician of the household is also then suggested to have been Tenax's father with Tenax being his son by a woman other than his wife. So you can add a gay dad abusing his son backstory to this show.

I mean holy crap did the writer recently break up with his boyfriend recently and now decide he had it out for other gay people or something. If it was a 1 off sure but 2 evil gay character and one stupid selfish one in one show but basically all the straight relationships even the slightly dysfunctional ones are show to be range from a little messed up but then no more so than HBO's Rome showed upper class Roman society as being to quite nice and happy and to be celebrated with none of them truly full on evil or acting without reason or even betraying one another really.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

American Primeval.


Not bad, Trebek. After a couple episodes it makes room for itself in a very crowded genre by dishing out some low key grit and intensity at the right moments, with a through line of just how vicious the oft untold players had the potential to be back then. We’ll see what else happens.

I was interested in this show since it's a western but the trailer and some of the reviews gave me the impression that it's grimdark for grimdark's sake and it's a trend I'm sick of.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Physical, Apple TV+, season 1 and some of 2 so far...

Even though we're still watching it (there are 3 seasons so far and we're in the middle of 2), its quality is so consistent that I feel comfortable throwing in a general notice about it.

It's set in the 80s so if you liked GLOW or The Americans or something like that it's gonna appeal in the pure stylistic/nostalgia/period-piece sense. The other hook for us was the star Rose Byrne who was in Bridesmaids and bunch of comedies. She plays a housewife who becomes and aerobics home video mogul (for those too young to know/remember, that was a big thing at the time, VHS tapes of aerobics workouts).

But it's like really what this show is about to me is the crazy inner life of an eating disorder because she is bulimic and much of the time is spent with her inner monologue berating herself and others. And as someone who has dealt with eating disorder/body issues I can tell you the writer(s) are also coming from a place of experience. It's some real stuff.
It's also pretty stylized, rarely past the point of overbearing though and the episodes movie along real snappy.

I am really digging this show, a pleasant surprise. I dunno if it's for everybody though but it's been a while since I found a show where every night I have to stop myself from watching more and go to bed.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Dispatches from Elsewhere (2020)

Some well meaning advice for people writing television shows:

If you think you should introduce a meta aspect at the very end, don't.
If you think it's a good idea to literally spell out the moral of your story, don't.
If you think you can be Charlie Kaufman, don't.
If you think you can do what Twin Peaks S3 did for its finale, don't.
If you think you can pull off a novel version of an "It wasn't actually real" twist, don't.

Some well meaning advice for people watching television shows:

If you're planning to watch Dispatches from Elsewhere, don't.

 

[gorfias]

The Penguin: Ep. 1-6

A spin-off series revolving around Colin Farrell's character Penguin from 2022's The Batman film. It showcases the characters tumultuous attempt at a rise to power as he juggles underestimation and the heads of the most prominent crime families in Gotham.

The show is good, not necessarily as "amazing" as many have tried to lead me to believe (it's your rote mafia schtick,) but is still very good. But what IS amazing is Colin Farrell. It is rare to see that kind of complete transformation; you could stand Farrell next to himself as the Penguin, and you'd not even imagine the two were even related let alone the same person. The make-up team has done a simply unbelievable job, and Farrell a stellar execution of the role. I'm going to finish the series today and try not to constantly distract myself gawking at "Farrell Penguin" trying to see the seams that honestly aren't there.

EDIT: Just finished Ep 7 - 8, and wow, there were a couple of jarring reminders that I was watching the origins of a villain here. I caught myself rooting for Penguin (the de facto "protagonist") as he outsmarted his rivals, but was quickly reminded that he's trying to be the best (worst) of the bad guys, and that there's no happy ending and no one to root for. Sheesh. Recommended.

Got to see a good analysis complaining that "Agatha All Along" got caught up in forgetting that she was supposed to be the villain. They couldn't commit to it. Penguin? Not so much. I had very much your experience (he's the protagonist and you reflexively root for him and then are reminded, you should not do so).

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Dexter: Original Sin latest episode.


Well that was a weird twist. Overall it’s not half as bad as I’d thought it would be, and I can get behind the reasoning, well, behind it. The show works as a prequel in tandem with laying the groundwork for Dexter: Resurrection, because it’s basically him recounting the early days of his dark tendencies while he’s on death’s doorstep. It’s almost a given it’ll tie right into the beginning of Resurrection, nicely bookended. They did a pretty good job casting the original crew as younger something’s too. Believable and the show carries the same tone without missing a beat.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Got to see a good analysis complaining that "Agatha All Along" got caught up in forgetting that she was supposed to be the villain. They couldn't commit to it. Penguin? Not so much. I had very much your experience (he's the protagonist and you reflexively root for him and then are reminded, you should not do so).

Yup. They set him up as a middling gangster trying to muscle away his just dues from the bosses under the guise of equity, but then you're reminded that Sofia is very much his victim who spent 10 years wrongfully institutionalized, he killed her brother, the one person she loved, he killed his brothers when he was a kid, then the show ends with him killing the one person who was loyal to him to a fault. Penguin is a fucking monster.

 

[gorfias]

Expats on Amazon Prime E1

Wife got Expats recommended on Amazon Prime and we watched the 1st of 6 episodes and it was shockingly dull. It is coming across as another one of those, keep watching and we will eventually do an exposition dump and let you know what happened. Stars Nicole Kidman who has been in a few of these already (Lady is getting a lot of TV work these days! ) She walks around seeming kinda shell shocked as a rich lady in Hong Kong who appears to have lost one of her 3 kids. Got in the mid 6's/10 on IMDB. So far, that seems a little high. That 1st episode gets a 5/10 from me. I won't watch anymore unless the wife insists.

Spoiler

Looks like the kid is stolen from her when she and the babysitter take their eyes off the kid for an instant in a crowd. Reminds me of the terrifying ending of "Eyes Wide Shut".

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Expats on Amazon Prime E1

Wife got Expats recommended on Amazon Prime and we watched the 1st of 6 episodes and it was shockingly dull. It is coming across as another one of those, keep watching and we will eventually do an exposition dump and let you know what happened. Stars Nicole Kidman who has been in a few of these already (Lady is getting a lot of TV work these days! ) She walks around seeming kinda shell shocked as a rich lady in Hong Kong who appears to have lost one of her 3 kids. Got in the mid 6's/10 on IMDB. So far, that seems a little high. That 1st episode gets a 5/10 from me. I won't watch anymore unless the wife insists.

That is really the feeling I get from a LOT of series these days.

 

[gorfias]

That is really the feeling I get from a LOT of series these days.

They're uninspired content. People know they need to put something on. I will write, I just watched the 2nd episode with the missus. This one was in the 6/10 region rather than 5.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Watching season 2 of Severance on Apple TV+.

It's the best mystery box show I've seen since Twins Peaks. I don't like to think of Twin Peaks as a mystery box show, but The Return definitely had the cadence of one, not to mention quite a few literal mystery boxes. Crucially you're always into the characters and the moment, even if the precise context or causality of the scene isn't immediately clear. Severance obviously has a firmer footing on the conventions of new wave sci-fi, and is paced more like a thriller than a fever dream. And here I was worried that it was going to be a case of an overnight sensation spinning its wheels for as long as audiences will foot the bill, but as of episode 3 measures are being taken to forward the plot past a few points of no return, which is always encouraging. Hopefully they have an ending in mind and won't take more than three or four seasons to get there.

 

[Xprimentyl]

AP Bio: Good / Great

Jack, a jaded, ivy league philosophy professor, slums and takes a gig teaching AP biology at a high school in Toledo, Ohio. However, he refuses to teach the kids biology, instead turns the classroom into a mad lab where he uses the kids to scheme up and execute revenge plots against his bitter rival, the philosophy professor at Stanford.

Just like The Mick is very much like Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson) from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia got a her own spin-off show, AP Bio is that for Dennis (Glenn Howerton.) The ridiculously thin premise aside, that a teacher could get away with actively refusing to teach while involving the students in illicit and illegal activities, it's a fun time. The myriad plots range from extremely petty to bat-shit insane and the cast of characters are mostly great, so I recommend it, especially if you're an IASIP fan.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Also watching Masters of the Air

Well, it's no Band of Brothers. Band of Brothers looked like Saving Private Ryan. Masters of the Air looks like an Apple TV+ original. Cold, flat lighting like it's a tech commercial. The main duo is rather desperately tuned to that Winters/Nixon dynamic of stoic/epicurean and failing spectacularly to catch their chemistry.

Also I realize the average age of a WW2 soldier would be pretty young, but man they look way too young in this. Either that or the officials and COs don't look much older. Takes me out more than the CG.