I have started watching this based on your recommendation. I like it but am very put off by Orlando and Cara relationship. I hope they dump it by season 2
Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)
- Thread starter Hawki
- Start date
Yes, that's how I felt, too. I just about got a hang of them partway through Season 2.
My hypothesis is that it's because if you don't understand the language it's very hard to distinguish the names from the rest of the speech, plus unless you know a lot of Korean people they don't have any familiarity from the rest of your life experience. As a result, they don't resonate in your mind the same way, and the subtitles don't make up for it.
I have been enjoying the building up of factions and then having legitimate turns when new info comes out. In fact, they're doing it better and more naturally than DS9. Which is a feat, for Star Trek.
For once, over 10 seasons and 4 movies, Picard feels like a real character. Also, he principled stance actually mean something in this story and he is being challenged. (No breaking of the Time Prime Directive, as seen on the last episode of season 2.) It is so weird that the conversation actually feel real, considering the first two season was trying to do the same.... but were completely off the mark. I just watched Season 2 this week and at least it's better than the conversation in TNG. Because, generally they were non-existent
It is also wierd, after not seeing Picard in DS9 fighting the Dominion that he somehow knows the Dominion exist. You couldn't do a zoom call during an important war Picard? Anyway, gripes from 30 years ago
Also, much of this is a rehash of Discovery season 2, replacing AI with Changelings. But then, much of TOS is based on books, comics or old movies. Rehashing is standard practice. But I understand if you are tired of it.
I'll note, as I always do, the TNG is the worst series. Now that I have watched Enterprise, I can definitively place it on the bottom. I understand that this makes me not a real Star Trek fan
I'll say it's got far less stabby / holding people and knife point by season 2.
Lower Decks - Season 3
(Prime Video)
So Lower Decks is a show I tried out with season 1 and I thought it was pretty bad, it was only watchable while drinking alcohol really to numb my brain from getting annoyed at the show. It had just enough of a spark of potential though that I felt I'd give season 2 a try.
Season 2 was actually leaps and bounds better, still not great but hitting about average and waving a bit above or below average per episode.
Season 3 feels like both a step forward in terms of dealing with the shows initial issues but also a step back in terms of other aspects as this season fells less like a season in it's own right and more like a holding pattern / set up for future seasons. Don't get me wrong I'd say it's hitting above average now per episode and the gloves have really been coming off (finally) but I wouldn't say it was must see. It's not reaching the highs of some of the best Star Trek but with 30 minute episodes of what is a comedy show, it's doing fairly good.
So onto my deeper thoughts which kind of requires me to talk about the previous seasons and the issues I had with them and what worked and what didn't.
Season 1 - Was a really rough intro to the show and the only way I could really describe the show initially and the initial impression it gives off would be "Woke template show the cartoon show" which sounds stupid but to elaborate (and if you know the tune sing along) the lead character is a strong black woman, the white male sidekick is mostly a useless idiot and the butt of most of the jokes for how useless / cowardly / incompetent he is, even if he does get a win in a moment it was actually all set up to make him feel better by the strong black woman they're joined by a black guy engineer whose super competent at most things and a super science loving nerdy female character who multiple times talks about how she rejects certain social standards............ no really that is kind of how template the show feel initially. Most of the humour felt like it lacked teeth and most of the sci-fi stuff felt like it was lifted from entirely different shows and stuff Star Trek had not really touched on much but other shows had. To me Season 1 felt like a Star Trek show where Poe's law comes into play and I still can't tell you if the show was meant to be a parody of what modern Star Trek has become so much or if it was sincere and the comedy was the other often more puerile stuff going on.
Season 2 - So this was the course correction season and they actually went in and put in some series work. They actually better balanced out the characters mostly Mariner is no longer a perfect Mary Sue with her ego and bravado now sometimes getting her into trouble and showing she's not ultimately capable and unstoppable. Boimler isn't a constant coward / idiot / useless and actually gets to be shown as a decent guy and has moments where he gets to shine and be the hero. The show also develops some teeth and took some pretty on point shots at modern Star Trek and then basically went "this is how all that should be done" by doing a complex season long story arc interwoven with mostly stand alone episode stories to turn the kind of joke aliens the Pakled into a legitimate thread of a kind in their own right (rather than them being a threat being just the surprise joke of Season 1).
Season 3 - So after the course correction and the stuff from the previous seasons the show feels like it's improved but now in a holding pattern. The Pakled story unfortunately ends, which is a shame as I think they could have done a bit more with it and the show feels like it's just running in place looking for what to set up next with a few possibilities. Some characters first seen in season 2 seem to be migrating from guest character to regular cast, the show is tying up loose ends from Season 1 and the season long arc is kind of interesting as a filler season explaining where and how Rutherford got his cybernetic implants with the season long arc only being put all together in the last episode so the seemingly random bits all form into one story. I will say possibly one of the best episodes of the show to date happened in this season with "A mathematically perfect redemption" which is a full on parody and them subversion of the standard "Star Fleet officer becomes stranded on another world" sort of plot formula episode with beat for beat moments you'd expect to happen in an actual episode only for subversion that really hit and didn't feel mean spirited and actually felt like it fit with established characters as was set up. Season 3 really took some kind of heavier shots at modern Star Trek too with a far more cutting commentary on it in "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus" which basically ripped into the the Kelvin-verse idea.
(Prime Video)
So Lower Decks is a show I tried out with season 1 and I thought it was pretty bad, it was only watchable while drinking alcohol really to numb my brain from getting annoyed at the show. It had just enough of a spark of potential though that I felt I'd give season 2 a try.
Season 2 was actually leaps and bounds better, still not great but hitting about average and waving a bit above or below average per episode.
Season 3 feels like both a step forward in terms of dealing with the shows initial issues but also a step back in terms of other aspects as this season fells less like a season in it's own right and more like a holding pattern / set up for future seasons. Don't get me wrong I'd say it's hitting above average now per episode and the gloves have really been coming off (finally) but I wouldn't say it was must see. It's not reaching the highs of some of the best Star Trek but with 30 minute episodes of what is a comedy show, it's doing fairly good.
So onto my deeper thoughts which kind of requires me to talk about the previous seasons and the issues I had with them and what worked and what didn't.
Season 1 - Was a really rough intro to the show and the only way I could really describe the show initially and the initial impression it gives off would be "Woke template show the cartoon show" which sounds stupid but to elaborate (and if you know the tune sing along) the lead character is a strong black woman, the white male sidekick is mostly a useless idiot and the butt of most of the jokes for how useless / cowardly / incompetent he is, even if he does get a win in a moment it was actually all set up to make him feel better by the strong black woman they're joined by a black guy engineer whose super competent at most things and a super science loving nerdy female character who multiple times talks about how she rejects certain social standards............ no really that is kind of how template the show feel initially. Most of the humour felt like it lacked teeth and most of the sci-fi stuff felt like it was lifted from entirely different shows and stuff Star Trek had not really touched on much but other shows had. To me Season 1 felt like a Star Trek show where Poe's law comes into play and I still can't tell you if the show was meant to be a parody of what modern Star Trek has become so much or if it was sincere and the comedy was the other often more puerile stuff going on.
Season 2 - So this was the course correction season and they actually went in and put in some series work. They actually better balanced out the characters mostly Mariner is no longer a perfect Mary Sue with her ego and bravado now sometimes getting her into trouble and showing she's not ultimately capable and unstoppable. Boimler isn't a constant coward / idiot / useless and actually gets to be shown as a decent guy and has moments where he gets to shine and be the hero. The show also develops some teeth and took some pretty on point shots at modern Star Trek and then basically went "this is how all that should be done" by doing a complex season long story arc interwoven with mostly stand alone episode stories to turn the kind of joke aliens the Pakled into a legitimate thread of a kind in their own right (rather than them being a threat being just the surprise joke of Season 1).
Season 3 - So after the course correction and the stuff from the previous seasons the show feels like it's improved but now in a holding pattern. The Pakled story unfortunately ends, which is a shame as I think they could have done a bit more with it and the show feels like it's just running in place looking for what to set up next with a few possibilities. Some characters first seen in season 2 seem to be migrating from guest character to regular cast, the show is tying up loose ends from Season 1 and the season long arc is kind of interesting as a filler season explaining where and how Rutherford got his cybernetic implants with the season long arc only being put all together in the last episode so the seemingly random bits all form into one story. I will say possibly one of the best episodes of the show to date happened in this season with "A mathematically perfect redemption" which is a full on parody and them subversion of the standard "Star Fleet officer becomes stranded on another world" sort of plot formula episode with beat for beat moments you'd expect to happen in an actual episode only for subversion that really hit and didn't feel mean spirited and actually felt like it fit with established characters as was set up. Season 3 really took some kind of heavier shots at modern Star Trek too with a far more cutting commentary on it in "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus" which basically ripped into the the Kelvin-verse idea.
Yellowstone
This is the popular with boomers rural-set soap opera where Kevin Kostner patriarchs over a bunch of land and emotionally damaged adult children while competing other equally terrible men constantly waving their dicks around to own land and pride. It's really good if you like schlock and beautiful shots of mountains and horses. The show treats the setting with a lot more love and attention than the female characters, both of which are extremely ridiculous archetypes. The men are simple archetypes too but some of them at least get some charm.
Every episodes will have at least one dialogue exchange or dramatic sequence that is gripping or funny, and a plot point that is so absurd, so it's a real rollercoaster. Production is wonderful so the whole thing is really "watchable." This is just something I'm really in the mood for and I'm loving it, though I'm certainly not saying it's like good or anything.
I'm wrapping up season 2 now and almost certainly will just go through seasons 3 and 4 next. I think season 5 is happening now and there are prequels/spinoffs if I still want more.
A League of Their Own
Amazon Prime adaptation of the movie about women baseball players in the 40's. It's got Abby from Broad City and Janet from the Good Place, both performers I really really liked and that was the hook. Two episodes in and, like Yellowstone, it delivers exactly what it promises. It's just a joy to watch funny dynamic actors do their thing.
This is the popular with boomers rural-set soap opera where Kevin Kostner patriarchs over a bunch of land and emotionally damaged adult children while competing other equally terrible men constantly waving their dicks around to own land and pride. It's really good if you like schlock and beautiful shots of mountains and horses. The show treats the setting with a lot more love and attention than the female characters, both of which are extremely ridiculous archetypes. The men are simple archetypes too but some of them at least get some charm.
Every episodes will have at least one dialogue exchange or dramatic sequence that is gripping or funny, and a plot point that is so absurd, so it's a real rollercoaster. Production is wonderful so the whole thing is really "watchable." This is just something I'm really in the mood for and I'm loving it, though I'm certainly not saying it's like good or anything.
I'm wrapping up season 2 now and almost certainly will just go through seasons 3 and 4 next. I think season 5 is happening now and there are prequels/spinoffs if I still want more.
A League of Their Own
Amazon Prime adaptation of the movie about women baseball players in the 40's. It's got Abby from Broad City and Janet from the Good Place, both performers I really really liked and that was the hook. Two episodes in and, like Yellowstone, it delivers exactly what it promises. It's just a joy to watch funny dynamic actors do their thing.
If you're harboring any wholesome nostalgia for the 1992 film, well, this "reboot" goes in a... different direction.