Leia claims they were on a diplomatic mission, which is... really dumb when Vader himself was like 5 steps away from standing on their ship.
Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)
- Thread starter Hawki
- Start date
I on the other hand think that makes the scene even better. She's just bold as brass lying to his fucking face. It also kind of explains why Vader goes from zero to one hundred with his tone. He's the biggest and baddest son of a ***** in the galaxy bar one; he's boarded the ship after chasing it from the combat zone, caught Leia after she blows away one of his men and when he smugly tells her he's got her, she fucking pisses in his pocket and doesn't even bother calling it rain while still denying everything. The original's plausible deniability was good, but the sheer fucking audacity retroactively added by Rogue One just makes Leia look even more fearless than she already was.
Yeah, that's fair - just thought it was referring to "the prequels," not Rogue One specifically.
Why she was being pursued is the discrepancy. In the originals her ship was being chased because transmissions containing the Death Star pans were known to have been beamed to the vessel. No mention is made of the ship fleeing a nearby battle, physical data tapes being handed off to a crew member or of Vader personally seeing that ship at the site of battle.
Vader would have brought those up to counter Leia's claim of being on a diplomatic mission and he likely wouldn't have bothered with searching for survivors or covering up the ship being taken like he did in the Original if he had iron clad proof of Leia's treason.
In Rogue One, which I count as being attached to the prequels, Vader personally witnesses Rebels hand off the physical data tapes to a crew member of Leia's ship, watches that ship flee the battle site and then clearly chase after her.
For Vader's Star Destroyer to follow Leia the chase either had to take place entirely at sublight speed or he was able to track her through hyperspace. Both of those choices were mocked and criticized when The Last Jedi used them.
Pachinko
Started watching this with wife, it is outside of the genre stuff this site focuses on but if you want some drama, check it out. It's on AppleTV, 10 episodes (I think?). About a Korean family that lives in Japan, telling parallel stories across generations. It's top quality foreign language award-bait drama, really well done of course. More poignant if for those closer to connected to an immigrant family experience.
Episode 3 has a scene were two old ladies are talking about rice and I started choking up.
At the risk of seeming like a snob, it really is quite a reminder for what actual drama and story telling looks like when Disney or Bezos don't get all franchisy and annoying.
Started watching this with wife, it is outside of the genre stuff this site focuses on but if you want some drama, check it out. It's on AppleTV, 10 episodes (I think?). About a Korean family that lives in Japan, telling parallel stories across generations. It's top quality foreign language award-bait drama, really well done of course. More poignant if for those closer to connected to an immigrant family experience.
Episode 3 has a scene were two old ladies are talking about rice and I started choking up.
At the risk of seeming like a snob, it really is quite a reminder for what actual drama and story telling looks like when Disney or Bezos don't get all franchisy and annoying.
The Watch
"Inspired by characters created by Terry Pratchett", but only very loosely having anything to do with Discworld. If they'd just stopped pretending it'd be a lot better, but on the whole quite decent, though they shouldn't have confused music scenes and pointless weirdness for cleverness.
Notable that diverging from the source material, female characters and black people got the weird fans frothing about Rings of Power, but this came out fairly recently and does even more of that and nobody seems to have noticed, there doesn't seem to be massive trolling going on.
"Inspired by characters created by Terry Pratchett", but only very loosely having anything to do with Discworld. If they'd just stopped pretending it'd be a lot better, but on the whole quite decent, though they shouldn't have confused music scenes and pointless weirdness for cleverness.
Notable that diverging from the source material, female characters and black people got the weird fans frothing about Rings of Power, but this came out fairly recently and does even more of that and nobody seems to have noticed, there doesn't seem to be massive trolling going on.
There are far too many plot lines and they just spent one episode encouraging the Numenoreans to join the cause which is quickly follows up with another whole episode that encourages Numenor to join the cause
TBH, this is how I felt about the first season of GoT... so I'll give it a season. I just watched LotR with the kids this weeks. God, it's got some glaring problems too
Just because it was criticised in the Last Jedi, doesn't make it a valid criticism. It's like any criticism of the asteroid... saga of scenes in Empire. DON'T think about it logistically or logically, or it will ruin the experience. It's not meant to hold up to scrutiny, as most of Star Wars isnt. Edit: valid is not the right term here, sorry
As to diplomatic immunity... do some people here not know what diplomatic immunity is? It doesn't matter if Vader saw them, Leia can still claim diplomatic immunity. What Rogue One does explain is how Vader knew she was a thief. You don't get them from the original.
If we are going to talk about stupid inconsistencies... Vader captures a person who uses the force and tortures them TWICE, but somehow cant tell they are a force user. But ge CAN tell Luke uses the force mid-space battle from a far greater distance
Andor Ep 2 was the same slow boring slog that Ep 1 was, but Ep 3 gives us a look at what this show could and should be. Action packed, Stellen Skarsgard, and an ending that actually makes you feel a little bad for the antagonists.
Rogue One gave us an idea of how ruthless the Rebellion had to be (I have a feeling they cut out a lot of that from the film), and I hope to see much more of that in this show. I thought Skarsgard would be an influential Imperial backing the Rebels, but he seems more like spymaster who gets his hands dirty.
Rogue One gave us an idea of how ruthless the Rebellion had to be (I have a feeling they cut out a lot of that from the film), and I hope to see much more of that in this show. I thought Skarsgard would be an influential Imperial backing the Rebels, but he seems more like spymaster who gets his hands dirty.
For anyone who’s watched The Last Dance, this is pretty interesting -
Not something I’d attach a personal rating to, other than saying it should’ve been included as a chapter in the main documentary.
Not something I’d attach a personal rating to, other than saying it should’ve been included as a chapter in the main documentary.
The House of Dragons (ep6?)
10 year time skip. Two new actresses play the older versions of the leads, apparently a big stink in r/HotD, but for my money both of them look remarkably alike. Lady playing Alicent looks identical. Lady playing Raenerys too. She's great.
Because of the time skip a large part of the episode felt like a "Where are they now?" recap and the plot felt a bit rushed. But I do like that we're getting to the nuts and bolts of Dragon House, which is essentially a glorified catfight between a woman who wants nothing more in the world than to fuck her uncle and her former BFF turned evil stepmother who fucks her father, and how they use everyone around them - including their own children - to further a decade of petty feuding. Jerry Springer eat your heart out.
10 year time skip. Two new actresses play the older versions of the leads, apparently a big stink in r/HotD, but for my money both of them look remarkably alike. Lady playing Alicent looks identical. Lady playing Raenerys too. She's great.
Because of the time skip a large part of the episode felt like a "Where are they now?" recap and the plot felt a bit rushed. But I do like that we're getting to the nuts and bolts of Dragon House, which is essentially a glorified catfight between a woman who wants nothing more in the world than to fuck her uncle and her former BFF turned evil stepmother who fucks her father, and how they use everyone around them - including their own children - to further a decade of petty feuding. Jerry Springer eat your heart out.
Idk how the king is still alive. Also now there’s a ton of kids, both Targarean and bastard. The show really is taking a, “just go with it, and try to keep up ok?” kind of approach, and I really hope it’s ultimately worth it…because now it’s mostly the dragons and individual performances that are keeping it from a runaway train wreck like the last couple seasons of GoT.
I'm convinced the only thing keeping that dude alive is his Lego set.
The kids are easy to tell apart. The evil blond ones are Alicent's, the evil one. The good brunette ones are Rhaenerys's, the good one. Coding system as old as the movies.
I'm enjoying it as a trashy soap opera in costume. Im not convinced GoT or HotD are better than that.
I also much prefer it than Jeff Bezos's LotR. In this characters have problems and take action against them. Rings is about convincing others to do something about it. It's Galadriel spending 3 episodes trying to convince Halbrand, trying to convince Miriel to convince the people of Numenor, and Nori trying to convince the not!Hobbits, and the lady trying to convince the Southland people, and Gil-Galad trying to convince Elrond to convince Durin to convince the other Durin... 5 episodes in and it's a massive chain of wishy-washy maybe, maybe not, maybe go fuck yourself. Again, at least the people in HotD are driven to do stuff themselves (even if it's by proxy, they give the order and it carries). Stuff actually happens, and the plot changes for it.
My vision apparatuses glassed over just reading that, so I’ll never be watching it lol.
For as much as that production has cost, it’s reassuring to know our stupid Prime fees are being put to such good use.
/s
Atlanta season 4 so far
By far my favorite short show on TV since maybe Parks & Rec, it is in its last season I believe. I love this show because you really never know what in the heck they're gonna do next. Donald Glover is really in some unique creative head space and I'm here for it.
Last season was a complete mind-f*** where half of the episodes weren't even about any of the characters and it was just short films. It was interesting but like most viewers I am glad they're back in the city that is the show's namesake.
Yes the show gets into race and class and all that and I'm not going to go all into that right now but it's the kind of show where I like to think can be watched and you don't have to "agree" with everything just take it as an expression of a moment.
Last episode had this weird D'Angelo b-plot which was really... wtf lol.. you kind of have to be aware of the whole D'Angelo mystique. This season they are leaning into hip-hop culture, local references and recent history.
Tonight I dip back into Ring of Dragons or whatever but watching expressive and unique stuff like Atlanta and Pachinko is just furthering my disconnect from caring about what happens on those shows.
On the other hand....
Cyberpunk Edgerunners episodes 1-5
Yeah, it's pretty cool so far!
By far my favorite short show on TV since maybe Parks & Rec, it is in its last season I believe. I love this show because you really never know what in the heck they're gonna do next. Donald Glover is really in some unique creative head space and I'm here for it.
Last season was a complete mind-f*** where half of the episodes weren't even about any of the characters and it was just short films. It was interesting but like most viewers I am glad they're back in the city that is the show's namesake.
Yes the show gets into race and class and all that and I'm not going to go all into that right now but it's the kind of show where I like to think can be watched and you don't have to "agree" with everything just take it as an expression of a moment.
Last episode had this weird D'Angelo b-plot which was really... wtf lol.. you kind of have to be aware of the whole D'Angelo mystique. This season they are leaning into hip-hop culture, local references and recent history.
Tonight I dip back into Ring of Dragons or whatever but watching expressive and unique stuff like Atlanta and Pachinko is just furthering my disconnect from caring about what happens on those shows.
On the other hand....
Cyberpunk Edgerunners episodes 1-5
Yeah, it's pretty cool so far!
Cobra Kai: Season 5 (4/5)
Season 5, without a doubt, is the weakest Cobra Kai season. That's not to say it's bad (look at the rating), but it's markedly weaker than the seasons leading up to it. If I had to give the TL, DR version, it would be because it's trying to do too much over too short a time, with some major plot questions left hanging. As this isn't a TL, DR review however, I can give some more detailed thoughts. So on that note:
-There's a great disconnect between the "threat" of Cobra Kai, and what's actually on-screen. As in, Silver is franchising it, and his horrible plan is "to make Cobra Kai as synonymous with karate as Starbucks is with coffee." You could go down the angle of "capitalist corrupts karate" or somethng like that, but that doesn't een work for reasons I'll explain later. The thing is, nothing Cobra Kai (least its students) do in the season is really morally reprehenesible. Anthony is bullied a bit, but this is far less severe than what the kids were getting up to in seasons 2/3. The season tries to convey that the stakes have never been higher, but the stakes really aren't, when you think about it.
-On the subject of Silver himself, he's still an excellent villain - probably the best in the series up to this point. There's a maxim I'm sure most of you are familiar with, that "bad guys don't see themselves as bad guys," and that definitely applies. Silver does reprehensible stuff, but there's the sense that he honestly believes in what he's doing. He's concerned about his legacy, Kim's concerned about her family's legacy (more on that later), and he seems to genuinely want to improve his students (see his interactions with Kenny for instance). If Daniel just walked away, then what harm would actually come from Cobra Kai expanding? Very little, as far as I can tell. For instance, when he announces in front of Daniel that Cobra Kai will be free to low-income students, is that because he wants to rub it in Daniel's face, or that he genuinely wants to help kids? Honestly, it could be the latter.
-The Mexico stuff is a bit of a dud. I like the idea behind it, but the weird thing is that while it's obsensibly Miguel's story, I honestly feel that Robby and Johnny are the ones who get more character development. Again, nice stuff (such as when Miguel realizes what kind of man his father really is), but you could cut the Mexico material from the season, and hardly anything would change. If anything, it arguably harms the season since Miguel and Robby get on okay in Mexico, but then go back to hating each other before having to sort out their differences via fighting.
-I'll just say it, Chozen is the GOAT. He's probably the strongest fighter in the series, but he's also outright hilarious in this season
-Something the season never addresses is that the ending of season 4 meant that Miyagi Do and Eagle Fang would have to shut down since Cobra Kai won the tournament. But later, the dojos just restart, and challenge Cobra Kai, and no-one, not even Silver, brings it up. Did I miss something? Because if not, the writers did.
-Mike Barnes is really done dirty in this season. I don't have any particular link with him from the third film (which I only saw bits and pieces of), but him only appearing in two episodes feels like a short stick, not to mention how he's taken out of action quickly in the final fight. I've read various claims that the actor was injured, and/or had limited time he could commit to, but I don't know if that's true. Whatever the case, I think Barnes is handled well in what we see of him (how he's able to turn his life around, only for said life to be screwed over by Silver), but we really needed to see more of him.
-Johnny and the rideshare...no. Just no. This is season 5 Johnny, his antics in his Uber stuff really shouldn't be happening in earlier seasons, but here, it's just so out of place. Johnny's a doofus, and he's sometimes at his best when he's being one (such as his attempt to create an escape room for Miguel and Robby, which is done well), but this just goes into pure nonsense, such as him peeing into a can while driving, or stealing customers' food. There's being a doofus, and there's being an asshole. Which Johnny isn't most of the time to his credit, such as him helping Daniel recover in an inverse of earlier seasons (Daniel's at his lowest here, while Johnny's arguably at his high point), and the relationship between the two has solidified into what could probably be called genuine friendship, but, yeah. 90% of the time, Johnny's a good character, but the Uber stuff is just bleh.
-Also, Carmen. I could have mentioned this earlier but didn't, I don't think Carmen's as fleshed out as she should be, at least when compared to Amanda. Carmen's character is almost entirely defined by her relationship with other characters (Miguel and Johnny), and is less a character in of herself. I'm still not clear what she actually sees in Johnny at all. I mean, I like Johnny as a character, but he's hardly A-grade husband material (more like a C, at best).
-Tory's still a pretty neat character. It's kind of startling how I absolutely loathed her in season 2 and 3 (as in, a good villain, but a horrible human being), but how she's completely turned around in seasons 4 and 5. So good job there.
-I have little to say about Kim - she's barely a character, and what character she does have is pretty stock. I bring her up because she's emblematic of two of the problems this season has. First, she's only introduced in the second half, so there's barely enough time for her to develop (compare this to Terry Silver, who was introduced at the start of season 4, and remained throughout said season). Second, there's Cobra Kai's supposed villany - Kim's motivation is to pass on her grandfather's fighting style (Cobra Kai's/the Way of the Fist) to the world. Okay, and? How is that a bad thing? The show's already shown, correctly IMO, that aggressive fighting styles aren't inherently a bad thing. It's a key plot point that Miyagi-Do's style is merged with Eagle Fang's in the season 4 finale, and a key plot point here. And if Kim wants to pass on her grandfather's legacy, again, I'm not seeing the issue here, especially since while Silver is an outright criminal, and Kim a harsh teacher, Cobra Kai, the group, isn't really doing anything wrong at this point. The idea of legacy is returned to at the very end, and I'll address that later, but the season seems confused as to what it's trying to say.
-Speaking of rushed characters, there's Kenny and Devon. I'm lumping them together, because their issues both come from the season being stretched too thin. First, Kenny. In less than 2 seasons, he's gone from nerdy, wimpy kid, to Cobra Kai's best male fighter. Which would be questionable in of itself (but not out of bounds - look at Miguel and Robby in season 1), but his plot arc only really seems to go in spurts. His "dark side turn" in season 4 was pretty quick, but at least understandable, here, he starts psycho, remains psycho, only gets a bit of character development towards the end, and not much else. It's like they had a plan for Kenny, but couldn't spread it out far enough, or alternatively, have the time needed to fully flesh him out.
On the other hand, there's Devon. Honestly, I think the writers just didn't know what to do with her, or alternatively, they wanted to do "something," but weren't sure what that something was. Because if Kenny is meant to be "bullied kid that becomes bully and becomes psycho," Devon is "girl who end up joining Cobra Kai, and sort of becomes aggressive, but not really." I get the sense that we're meant to feel sorry for Devon after her new dojo is taken over by Cobra Kai, and is humiliated by Tory in the 'stick fight' under Kim's instruction, where she looks ready to cry, but then she sort of just stumbles through the season. She's taken under Kim's wing, but nothing really comes of it. If Kenny has the problem of his character arc moving too quickly, Devon has the problem of her character arc moving too slowly (or alernatively, too vaguely).
-So the new karate tournament, the Senkai Taichi (sp.?) Honestly, I'm not fond of this development. As bonkers as Cobra Kai can get, it's always stayed reasonably grounded in the sense of being confined to the San Fernando Valley, but this global tournament thing, plus the idea of the future of karate resting on its outcome via Cobra Kai? Eh, seems a bit much. Also, again, Silver never points out that Johnny and Daniel shouldn't be able to compete due to the bet they made in season 4.
-So with the ending...well, I'm going to point out the obvious. While Silver is an obvious crook, he's got solid ground to arrest Daniel and co. as well. They're the ones who break into his mansion, and their students break into the Cobra kai dojo, not to mention that in the former, a sensei's finger gets chopped off. I mean, justice is meant to be blind, Johnny and co. are pretty much felons at this point. Also, don't know why he had his senseis on hand that evening...what, do they just lurk in the basement, waiting to come out? Also, mentioned it before, I'll mention it again, Barnes gets done dirty. But while I'm here, Chozen is still the GOAT, and Johnny...okay, sure, you get your arse handed to you, but the power of love gives you the ability to win the fight in mere minutes? Okay.
-With the end fight with Silver, again, mixed. On one hand, it being aired that Silver bribed the ref in season 4 doesn't really to sync with what season 5 has tried to say, or at least...well, I'll put it this way. if Cobra Kai makes you evil and stuff, why do literally all of his students abandon him when his dirty dealings are revealed? People like Kyler didn't mind being thugs up till now, so, what, THIS is a bridge too far? I can certainly understand some students turning tail, even Kenny, but all of them?
On the other hand, Daniel's fight against Silver is well done. There's the idea of legacy, but also that Daniel is able to beat Silver at all, and do so effortlessly. Like I've said, I've barely seen the third film, but since flashbacks feature reguarly in Cobra Kai, I imagine that Daniel got catharsis by beating the man who tormented him. It's almost certainly no coincidence that his finishing move is the crane kick.
So, yeah. Like I said, season is good overall, but easily the weakest, and frankly, I think it would have worked best if it ended here. Because bar Kreese escaping prison (more on that later), where else can you go? There's the tournament thing, but it just feels rote at this point. You could cut out the tournament, cut out Kreese's escape, and things could have ended soundly here.
But there's going to be a season 6, if only for the reason that Kreese escapes prison to do...something. Yeah, I don't think this works. We can debate who's the better character, but IMO, Silver is easily the better villain, so with Silver arrested, Kreese just seems like a step down. It arguably even goes against his character arc, since he mellowed out over season 4, but the implication here is that he's back to being a full antagonist. I've seen all kinds of theories, ranging from the idea that Silver is dying (a theory I actually suspect is right), to Kreese working with Dugan from Next Karate Kid (which I doubt - I'd be very surprised if Julie Pierce appears at this point, and if she does, she'll probably get similar treatment as Barnes), but, well, yeah. Hate to end this in a downer, but, well, again, good season, just the weakest so far.
Season 5, without a doubt, is the weakest Cobra Kai season. That's not to say it's bad (look at the rating), but it's markedly weaker than the seasons leading up to it. If I had to give the TL, DR version, it would be because it's trying to do too much over too short a time, with some major plot questions left hanging. As this isn't a TL, DR review however, I can give some more detailed thoughts. So on that note:
-There's a great disconnect between the "threat" of Cobra Kai, and what's actually on-screen. As in, Silver is franchising it, and his horrible plan is "to make Cobra Kai as synonymous with karate as Starbucks is with coffee." You could go down the angle of "capitalist corrupts karate" or somethng like that, but that doesn't een work for reasons I'll explain later. The thing is, nothing Cobra Kai (least its students) do in the season is really morally reprehenesible. Anthony is bullied a bit, but this is far less severe than what the kids were getting up to in seasons 2/3. The season tries to convey that the stakes have never been higher, but the stakes really aren't, when you think about it.
-On the subject of Silver himself, he's still an excellent villain - probably the best in the series up to this point. There's a maxim I'm sure most of you are familiar with, that "bad guys don't see themselves as bad guys," and that definitely applies. Silver does reprehensible stuff, but there's the sense that he honestly believes in what he's doing. He's concerned about his legacy, Kim's concerned about her family's legacy (more on that later), and he seems to genuinely want to improve his students (see his interactions with Kenny for instance). If Daniel just walked away, then what harm would actually come from Cobra Kai expanding? Very little, as far as I can tell. For instance, when he announces in front of Daniel that Cobra Kai will be free to low-income students, is that because he wants to rub it in Daniel's face, or that he genuinely wants to help kids? Honestly, it could be the latter.
-The Mexico stuff is a bit of a dud. I like the idea behind it, but the weird thing is that while it's obsensibly Miguel's story, I honestly feel that Robby and Johnny are the ones who get more character development. Again, nice stuff (such as when Miguel realizes what kind of man his father really is), but you could cut the Mexico material from the season, and hardly anything would change. If anything, it arguably harms the season since Miguel and Robby get on okay in Mexico, but then go back to hating each other before having to sort out their differences via fighting.
-I'll just say it, Chozen is the GOAT. He's probably the strongest fighter in the series, but he's also outright hilarious in this season
-Something the season never addresses is that the ending of season 4 meant that Miyagi Do and Eagle Fang would have to shut down since Cobra Kai won the tournament. But later, the dojos just restart, and challenge Cobra Kai, and no-one, not even Silver, brings it up. Did I miss something? Because if not, the writers did.
-Mike Barnes is really done dirty in this season. I don't have any particular link with him from the third film (which I only saw bits and pieces of), but him only appearing in two episodes feels like a short stick, not to mention how he's taken out of action quickly in the final fight. I've read various claims that the actor was injured, and/or had limited time he could commit to, but I don't know if that's true. Whatever the case, I think Barnes is handled well in what we see of him (how he's able to turn his life around, only for said life to be screwed over by Silver), but we really needed to see more of him.
-Johnny and the rideshare...no. Just no. This is season 5 Johnny, his antics in his Uber stuff really shouldn't be happening in earlier seasons, but here, it's just so out of place. Johnny's a doofus, and he's sometimes at his best when he's being one (such as his attempt to create an escape room for Miguel and Robby, which is done well), but this just goes into pure nonsense, such as him peeing into a can while driving, or stealing customers' food. There's being a doofus, and there's being an asshole. Which Johnny isn't most of the time to his credit, such as him helping Daniel recover in an inverse of earlier seasons (Daniel's at his lowest here, while Johnny's arguably at his high point), and the relationship between the two has solidified into what could probably be called genuine friendship, but, yeah. 90% of the time, Johnny's a good character, but the Uber stuff is just bleh.
-Also, Carmen. I could have mentioned this earlier but didn't, I don't think Carmen's as fleshed out as she should be, at least when compared to Amanda. Carmen's character is almost entirely defined by her relationship with other characters (Miguel and Johnny), and is less a character in of herself. I'm still not clear what she actually sees in Johnny at all. I mean, I like Johnny as a character, but he's hardly A-grade husband material (more like a C, at best).
-Tory's still a pretty neat character. It's kind of startling how I absolutely loathed her in season 2 and 3 (as in, a good villain, but a horrible human being), but how she's completely turned around in seasons 4 and 5. So good job there.
-I have little to say about Kim - she's barely a character, and what character she does have is pretty stock. I bring her up because she's emblematic of two of the problems this season has. First, she's only introduced in the second half, so there's barely enough time for her to develop (compare this to Terry Silver, who was introduced at the start of season 4, and remained throughout said season). Second, there's Cobra Kai's supposed villany - Kim's motivation is to pass on her grandfather's fighting style (Cobra Kai's/the Way of the Fist) to the world. Okay, and? How is that a bad thing? The show's already shown, correctly IMO, that aggressive fighting styles aren't inherently a bad thing. It's a key plot point that Miyagi-Do's style is merged with Eagle Fang's in the season 4 finale, and a key plot point here. And if Kim wants to pass on her grandfather's legacy, again, I'm not seeing the issue here, especially since while Silver is an outright criminal, and Kim a harsh teacher, Cobra Kai, the group, isn't really doing anything wrong at this point. The idea of legacy is returned to at the very end, and I'll address that later, but the season seems confused as to what it's trying to say.
-Speaking of rushed characters, there's Kenny and Devon. I'm lumping them together, because their issues both come from the season being stretched too thin. First, Kenny. In less than 2 seasons, he's gone from nerdy, wimpy kid, to Cobra Kai's best male fighter. Which would be questionable in of itself (but not out of bounds - look at Miguel and Robby in season 1), but his plot arc only really seems to go in spurts. His "dark side turn" in season 4 was pretty quick, but at least understandable, here, he starts psycho, remains psycho, only gets a bit of character development towards the end, and not much else. It's like they had a plan for Kenny, but couldn't spread it out far enough, or alternatively, have the time needed to fully flesh him out.
On the other hand, there's Devon. Honestly, I think the writers just didn't know what to do with her, or alternatively, they wanted to do "something," but weren't sure what that something was. Because if Kenny is meant to be "bullied kid that becomes bully and becomes psycho," Devon is "girl who end up joining Cobra Kai, and sort of becomes aggressive, but not really." I get the sense that we're meant to feel sorry for Devon after her new dojo is taken over by Cobra Kai, and is humiliated by Tory in the 'stick fight' under Kim's instruction, where she looks ready to cry, but then she sort of just stumbles through the season. She's taken under Kim's wing, but nothing really comes of it. If Kenny has the problem of his character arc moving too quickly, Devon has the problem of her character arc moving too slowly (or alernatively, too vaguely).
-So the new karate tournament, the Senkai Taichi (sp.?) Honestly, I'm not fond of this development. As bonkers as Cobra Kai can get, it's always stayed reasonably grounded in the sense of being confined to the San Fernando Valley, but this global tournament thing, plus the idea of the future of karate resting on its outcome via Cobra Kai? Eh, seems a bit much. Also, again, Silver never points out that Johnny and Daniel shouldn't be able to compete due to the bet they made in season 4.
-So with the ending...well, I'm going to point out the obvious. While Silver is an obvious crook, he's got solid ground to arrest Daniel and co. as well. They're the ones who break into his mansion, and their students break into the Cobra kai dojo, not to mention that in the former, a sensei's finger gets chopped off. I mean, justice is meant to be blind, Johnny and co. are pretty much felons at this point. Also, don't know why he had his senseis on hand that evening...what, do they just lurk in the basement, waiting to come out? Also, mentioned it before, I'll mention it again, Barnes gets done dirty. But while I'm here, Chozen is still the GOAT, and Johnny...okay, sure, you get your arse handed to you, but the power of love gives you the ability to win the fight in mere minutes? Okay.
-With the end fight with Silver, again, mixed. On one hand, it being aired that Silver bribed the ref in season 4 doesn't really to sync with what season 5 has tried to say, or at least...well, I'll put it this way. if Cobra Kai makes you evil and stuff, why do literally all of his students abandon him when his dirty dealings are revealed? People like Kyler didn't mind being thugs up till now, so, what, THIS is a bridge too far? I can certainly understand some students turning tail, even Kenny, but all of them?
On the other hand, Daniel's fight against Silver is well done. There's the idea of legacy, but also that Daniel is able to beat Silver at all, and do so effortlessly. Like I've said, I've barely seen the third film, but since flashbacks feature reguarly in Cobra Kai, I imagine that Daniel got catharsis by beating the man who tormented him. It's almost certainly no coincidence that his finishing move is the crane kick.
So, yeah. Like I said, season is good overall, but easily the weakest, and frankly, I think it would have worked best if it ended here. Because bar Kreese escaping prison (more on that later), where else can you go? There's the tournament thing, but it just feels rote at this point. You could cut out the tournament, cut out Kreese's escape, and things could have ended soundly here.
But there's going to be a season 6, if only for the reason that Kreese escapes prison to do...something. Yeah, I don't think this works. We can debate who's the better character, but IMO, Silver is easily the better villain, so with Silver arrested, Kreese just seems like a step down. It arguably even goes against his character arc, since he mellowed out over season 4, but the implication here is that he's back to being a full antagonist. I've seen all kinds of theories, ranging from the idea that Silver is dying (a theory I actually suspect is right), to Kreese working with Dugan from Next Karate Kid (which I doubt - I'd be very surprised if Julie Pierce appears at this point, and if she does, she'll probably get similar treatment as Barnes), but, well, yeah. Hate to end this in a downer, but, well, again, good season, just the weakest so far.
House of the Dragon episode 6
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 1
Andor- first half of episode 1
Having caught up on everything we really wanted to my wife suggests we check out that other new Trek show that spun off of Discovery (we actually do like Discovery). Then after that I was like while we're checking out Star stuff, let's also try this Star Wars show everyone on the internet is raving.
Well, they both suck. And yes, I'm petulantly judging harshly due to franchise fatigue. *shrugs*
We're gonna continue watching Prequel of Thrones 'cause it's soap opera cheese and She-Hul 'cause it's so breezy and short but I can't imagine trying any more Big Franchise crap any more, it's so repetitive.
Strange New Worlds' debut episode was almost vicious in its fan service blandness. It's like it took all the assholes who hate Discover because woke, input that feedback through a robot, and churned out the most half-hearted script. The point of this show is to be like old school Trek- I mean it's literally the same Enterprise from the original show I believe with some of the same characters from the pilot. But of course they update some of the characters especially giving the women actual personalities but don't worry men's rights activists, their personalities are very cis-norm they just have a bit of moxy. I mean it really is like something from the 90's.
Captain Pike saves a planet at war by showing them clips of Earth being mad and saying "hey guys come on, don't do war, war bad" and they politely listen and it works.
I know, I know, it's the first episode- but what it tells me is that they're deliberately not going to try to be challenging or interesting. This is basically the Orville (which I refuse to watch for this exact reason).
I love Next Generation and yes, will stop and watch an episode when channel flipping. That is nostalgia. It was great for its time. Now is another time.
Andor seemed to go the other way and I just couldn't be bothered to give a shit. I liked Rogue One because it was its own thing, I think I'm just going to leave it at that. If the only reason Andor is great is because the previous three Star Wars shows lowered our expectations so much, that is not a good reason to watch it.
The time jump in Thrones Prequel was jarring. We couldn't get over that they recast some actors but left Ser Red Pill the same, and skipped over so many important and potentially interesting things. The core conflict of the queen and princess being paranoid over each others' kids seems so forced and manufactured, especially with the king being so willfully oblivious about his grandchildren's bastardry. But, the presentation is engaging and fun. The king's brother is my favorite TV asshole now, that actor is absolutely selling peak irritating douchebaggery. I do hate this the second time in the same season they kill off his wife right after introducing her as an interesting, badass woman. WTF srsly.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 1
Andor- first half of episode 1
Having caught up on everything we really wanted to my wife suggests we check out that other new Trek show that spun off of Discovery (we actually do like Discovery). Then after that I was like while we're checking out Star stuff, let's also try this Star Wars show everyone on the internet is raving.
Well, they both suck. And yes, I'm petulantly judging harshly due to franchise fatigue. *shrugs*
We're gonna continue watching Prequel of Thrones 'cause it's soap opera cheese and She-Hul 'cause it's so breezy and short but I can't imagine trying any more Big Franchise crap any more, it's so repetitive.
Strange New Worlds' debut episode was almost vicious in its fan service blandness. It's like it took all the assholes who hate Discover because woke, input that feedback through a robot, and churned out the most half-hearted script. The point of this show is to be like old school Trek- I mean it's literally the same Enterprise from the original show I believe with some of the same characters from the pilot. But of course they update some of the characters especially giving the women actual personalities but don't worry men's rights activists, their personalities are very cis-norm they just have a bit of moxy. I mean it really is like something from the 90's.
Captain Pike saves a planet at war by showing them clips of Earth being mad and saying "hey guys come on, don't do war, war bad" and they politely listen and it works.
I know, I know, it's the first episode- but what it tells me is that they're deliberately not going to try to be challenging or interesting. This is basically the Orville (which I refuse to watch for this exact reason).
I love Next Generation and yes, will stop and watch an episode when channel flipping. That is nostalgia. It was great for its time. Now is another time.
Andor seemed to go the other way and I just couldn't be bothered to give a shit. I liked Rogue One because it was its own thing, I think I'm just going to leave it at that. If the only reason Andor is great is because the previous three Star Wars shows lowered our expectations so much, that is not a good reason to watch it.
The time jump in Thrones Prequel was jarring. We couldn't get over that they recast some actors but left Ser Red Pill the same, and skipped over so many important and potentially interesting things. The core conflict of the queen and princess being paranoid over each others' kids seems so forced and manufactured, especially with the king being so willfully oblivious about his grandchildren's bastardry. But, the presentation is engaging and fun. The king's brother is my favorite TV asshole now, that actor is absolutely selling peak irritating douchebaggery. I do hate this the second time in the same season they kill off his wife right after introducing her as an interesting, badass woman. WTF srsly.
Rings of Power 1-5
House of the Dragon 1-6
Andor 1-2
This applies to all three, but, while I'm not opposed to a show indulging in character drama, can something with actual impact that moves the plot forward happen please?
House of the Dragon 1-6
Andor 1-2
This applies to all three, but, while I'm not opposed to a show indulging in character drama, can something with actual impact that moves the plot forward happen please?