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

[Casual Shinji]

....AAANNNDDDD now we have Conquest, voiced by Jeffery Dean Morgan (aka Negan from The Walking Dead). Now that's hilariously ironic considering their roles in TWD.

Can't say Jeffery Dean Morgan fits Conquest. Out of all the viltrumites Conquest has the most manic violence boner energy - dude fucking loves the slaughter with glee - and Jeffery Dean Morgan can't not be soft and syrupy to save his life. He'd be a good fit for Thragg, but for Conquest you'd be better off wth someone like Rip Torn or Gene Hackman (if either were still alive).

 

[FakeSympathy]

Can't say Jeffery Dean Morgan fits Conquest. Out of all the viltrumites Conquest has the most manic violence boner energy - dude fucking loves the slaughter with glee - and Jeffery Dean Morgan can't not be soft and syrupy to save his life. He'd be a good fit for Thragg, but for Conquest you'd be better off wth someone like Rip Torn or Gene Hackman (if either were still alive).

Yeah, kinda have to agree. I also think Micahel Ironside (who voiced Darkseid in various DC shows) would've worked as well for Conquest, or as that Viltrumite big boss.

Maybe even Ron Pearlman?

I swear JDM was only added as a geek service. I feel JDM would've been better as the "dinosaur guy" later in the series

 

[Casual Shinji]

Yeah, kinda have to agree. I also think Micahel Ironside (who voiced Darkseid in various DC shows) would've worked as well for Conquest, or as that Viltrumite big boss.

Maybe even Ron Pearlman?

I swear JDM was only added as a geek service. I feel JDM would've been better as the "dinosaur guy" later in the series

Clancy Brown would've also been a shoo-in.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Clancy Brown would've also been a shoo-in.

True, but at least his voice feels really good for Kregg.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Ted Lasso Season 1 wasn't belly laughingly funny, but it is genuinely wholesome and I had a great time with it. Was surprised it was only 10 episodes.

Latest episode of Invincible started out REALLY strong, but once the evil Invincibles are out of the picture, I felt like the quality took a hard drop. Oliver is perennially annoying.

 

[gorfias]

Paradise on Hulu 7.5/10
I'm loving this streaming thing where we get a complete story in a single season. Movies are but around 2 hours. A multi season series can lose its way (Lost/Game of Thrones). But a limited series? Maybe 10 episodes? That can be about 10 hours of story arc and character development unparalleled in other formats.
Sadly, Paradise has a Season 2 set up. And its last episode really kinda undermines what the entire previous season was about.
But I had fun. Reconstructing what the show is even about by the end of Season 1 allows for some fun possibilities in Season 2. I look forward to seeing it.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Paradise on Hulu 7.5/10
I'm loving this streaming thing where we get a complete story in a single season. Movies are but around 2 hours. A multi season series can lose its way (Lost/Game of Thrones). But a limited series? Maybe 10 episodes? That can be about 10 hours of story arc and character development unparalleled in other formats.

I have mixed feelings about that when it comes to all these "limited series." For example there is a new Apple TV+ limited series called Dope Thief that looks like a cool action-y heist flick- but it's like 6 or 8 episodes and that just feels too long for something like that.
Series like Big Little Lies (which was supposed to be only 1 season until HBO smelled money), Zero Day, The Changeling- these are series or limited series that should have been movies. And I think they would have been 10-20 yrs ago, but the market for "movie that isn't Disney, IP, or Oscar bait" has shrunk so much that these kind of stories are given to Netflix or Hulu and their business model benefits from drawing them out then breaking them up into episodes.

Paradise seems like it was intended to be a multi-season thing. The reveals at the end also expand the world of the show enough to make another season potentially good.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The Severance fandom says season 2 is peak while the White Lotus fandom seems to think "nothing's happening" on season 3 and I couldn't be more diametrically opposed to both opinions - I think Severance S2 has done almost nothing but waste my time, setting up seasons 3 through 6B, while White Lotus S3 is everything I've ever wanted of the show and more.

Severance is a mystery box show ala Lost that thrives on edging the viewer with an ever engorging plot, to the point it has spent the last two weeks on what is essentially - sorry - filler: a flashback episode chronicling the backstory of a plot device that has been promoted to supporting character since S1, and the week after a spotlight episode coloring in the backstory of one of the antagonists (?). This means that it's been 3 weeks since we abandoned the protagonist to a cliffhanger, which was itself protracted from the third episode this season.

I think this pacing works for something self-contained like Twin Peaks: The Return, but in a long form show that will probably stretch over seven years for presumably four or five seasons if it doesn't get cancelled first (is Apple famous for cancelling stuff, or is that just Netflix?), it becomes simply unbearable. Two seasons of not knowing what exactly is going on, who these characters are or what is motivating them is a little too much. And I don't expect the season two finale to pay off anything of significance.

Meanwhile White Lotus is just a delight and I don't get people complaining about the pacing. Each season you now exactly who each character is and what they're all about, and the mystery of who dies doesn't get in the way at all of enjoying these people unravel in fun, unexpected ways. Stewing with them in this pretty but claustrophobic environment is the whole point.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

The Severance fandom says season 2 is peak while the White Lotus fandom seems to think "nothing's happening" on season 3 and I couldn't be more diametrically opposed to both opinions - I think Severance S2 has done almost nothing but waste my time, setting up seasons 3 through 6B, while White Lotus S3 is everything I've ever wanted of the show and more.

Severance is a mystery box show ala Lost that thrives on edging the viewer with an ever engorging plot, to the point it has spent the last two weeks on what is essentially - sorry - filler: a flashback episode chronicling the backstory of a plot device that has been promoted to supporting character since S1, and the week after a spotlight episode coloring in the backstory of one of the antagonists (?). This means that it's been 3 weeks since we abandoned the protagonist to a cliffhanger, which was itself protracted from the third episode this season.

I think this pacing works for something self-contained like Twin Peaks: The Return, but in a long form show that will probably stretch over seven years for presumably four or five seasons if it doesn't get cancelled first (is Apple famous for cancelling stuff, or is that just Netflix?), it becomes simply unbearable. Two seasons of not knowing what exactly is going on, who these characters are or what is motivating them is a little too much. And I don't expect the season two finale to pay off anything of significance.

Meanwhile White Lotus is just a delight and I don't get people complaining about the pacing. Each season you now exactly who each character is and what they're all about, and the mystery of who dies doesn't get in the way at all of enjoying these people unravel in fun, unexpected ways. Stewing with them in this pretty but claustrophobic environment is the whole point.

I love White Lotus, I haven't checked out this newest season as I wait for shows to finish the season to watch them. White Lotus is the most elaborate version of "people watching" essentially, you don't really need anything to happen plot-wise.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I feel I can't properly judge Severence until the season is over. There's a lot of world building and I am really interested in what kind of society exists around Lumon and this last episode was an exciting look into that world.
First season introduced such a wonderful presence and style and they can't rely on that any more so they are banking on the good will of that first season to patiently lay the groundwork for what's coming, yes, so I that can be a bit annoying, especially given how long we had to wait for it.
While it is annoying that we have a sort of "cliffhanger" with Mark, you can't really complain that a show with a "mystery box" is not progressing while it is very much revealing a lot of information. I mean that Gemma episode alone kind of suggests what this whole show is about really....

I also like White Lotus but it's a show I just don't want to read about because, unlike Severance, I don't think there is any deep meaning, or mystery, or layers. It's just about a bunch of rich assholes and every week we tune in to hate on them (we have not seen last night's ep yet).
I remember people complaining about season 2 as well so, I dunno. Maybe some folks just really liked Jennifer Coolidge's character that much? Whatever.

 

[gorfias]

I have mixed feelings about that when it comes to all these "limited series." For example there is a new Apple TV+ limited series called Dope Thief that looks like a cool action-y heist flick- but it's like 6 or 8 episodes and that just feels too long for something like that.
Series like Big Little Lies (which was supposed to be only 1 season until HBO smelled money), Zero Day, The Changeling- these are series or limited series that should have been movies. And I think they would have been 10-20 yrs ago, but the market for "movie that isn't Disney, IP, or Oscar bait" has shrunk so much that these kind of stories are given to Netflix or Hulu and their business model benefits from drawing them out then breaking them up into episodes.

Paradise seems like it was intended to be a multi-season thing. The reveals at the end also expand the world of the show enough to make another season potentially good.

I think I'd compare this to "Once Upon a Time". The story radically changes things at the end of Season 1 where it could have ended but changes up so much that a season 2 can give us all new story arcs to keep us involved.

Spoiler

POTUS is killed, ostensibly due to him about to reveal to the people that there are survivors out there, which would be catastrophic to the entire plan of Sinatra's. But we find out that wasn't true. Then why kill Billy? He's certainly far less dangerous that POTUS. But I loved the reveal of the real POTUS assassin, back story and all.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Beef: Ep 1-4: Ugh / Great

Two people have a minor altercation in a hardware store parking lot when one is backing out of a parking space, and the other fails to yield resulting in a near-miss and aural berating from their respective car horns. As fate would have it, both are ostensibly at the end of their mental ropes, because what most normal people would dismiss as an irritating inconvenience turns into a frenetic car chase and sparks a back-and-forth as each tries to sabotage the other's life and livelihood.

This one is making me feel icky. It's billed as a comedy, and on its face, the lengths they go to are ridiculous and could make for a decent absurdist comedy, but I've not laughed once, even with my dark sense of humor. The problem is that as we dive into each of their lives, we see two deeply troubled people hanging on to the last threads of their lives as they unravel, and it's sad more than anything. Yeah, the things they do to each other would fit perfectly in a movie like The Hangover or Due Date, but when all the stuff in between is just watching them with a metaphorical gun in their mouth... ugh. 6 more episodes to go, but I'm not sure if I'm up for finishing it; at this point, it's only morbid curiosity that I've made it this far.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Invincible s3e8. Aka the season finale.

You know, it's moments like this that makes me glad that we don't live in a universe with superpowered beings. Because holy shit, the population will be constantly going down.

JDM as Conquest is alright, but still not quite the voice I was looking for.

There is a moment from a comic that was retconned; When Cecil finds out Reanimated-Invincible aren't ready, he has a look of fear, and says "then god help us all". Here, he just shouts "Damn it!" and walks out of the lab. WHY? Why was this changed? It feels unnecessary.

Several moments during the fight were also left out for a reason, such as when they go through and blow up a battleship in the middle of the ocean.

Overall, the last two episodes felt rushed.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Beef: Ep 1-4: Ugh / Great

Two people have a minor altercation in a hardware store parking lot when one is backing out of a parking space, and the other fails to yield resulting in a near-miss and aural berating from their respective car horns. As fate would have it, both are ostensibly at the end of their mental ropes, because what most normal people would dismiss as an irritating inconvenience turns into a frenetic car chase and sparks a back-and-forth as each tries to sabotage the other's life and livelihood.

This one is making me feel icky. It's billed as a comedy, and on its face, the lengths they go to are ridiculous and could make for a decent absurdist comedy, but I've not laughed once, even with my dark sense of humor. The problem is that as we dive into each of their lives, we see two deeply troubled people hanging on to the last threads of their lives as they unravel, and it's sad more than anything. Yeah, the things they do to each other would fit perfectly in a movie like The Hangover or Due Date, but when all the stuff in between is just watching them with a metaphorical gun in their mouth... ugh. 6 more episodes to go, but I'm not sure if I'm up for finishing it; at this point, it's only morbid curiosity that I've made it this far.

Beef: Ep 5-10 No, thanks / Great

Jarring tonal shifts aside, I'd say it works overall as a character study, a study of two deeply broken people who defer to their shallowest, carnal emotion over well-processed reason time and time again to their own, ever-increasing detriment. There's an attempt at redemption at the very end that comes off as condescending to the viewer, and it felt very unsatisfying. It was a very bipolar series; one minute you're rooting for one of two equally bad people and trying to find the intended humor, then they spend the next 20 minutes trying to make them relatable, pathetic, and worthy of empathy. Basically the show made me feel bad and uncomfortable for everyone on the screen, but I'm not a fan of schadenfreude, so maybe I wasn't the intended audience.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I am not in love with Severance anymore. One episode left to go. Everything that felt imminent in last season's finale has somehow been drawn out for the duration of this season. To the point tonight's episode remakes the previous finale ("She's alive!"), and leaves everyone more or less poised in a similar fashion as before.

That and still no answers to anything as basic as "What are the bad guys even trying to do". If you told me 3 years ago I'd be more excited for stupid ass Reacher I would've cancelled my Prime Video subscription.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Invincible s3e8. Aka the season finale.

You know, it's moments like this that makes me glad that we don't live in a universe with superpowered beings. Because holy shit, the population will be constantly going down.

JDM as Conquest is alright, but still not quite the voice I was looking for.

There is a moment from a comic that was retconned; When Cecil finds out Reanimated-Invincible aren't ready, he has a look of fear, and says "then god help us all". Here, he just shouts "Damn it!" and walks out of the lab. WHY? Why was this changed? It feels unnecessary.

Several moments during the fight were also left out for a reason, such as when they go through and blow up a battleship in the middle of the ocean.

Overall, the last two episodes felt rushed.

I've read through Invincible twice and I don't remember Damian Darkblood returning, so I don't know what that post credits scene is about. I mean, he returns to tell like Cecil's secretary that Omni-Man killed the Guardians of the Globe long after the entire world found out, and she laughs him out of the comic. And unless I'm missing something that's the end for that character.

 

[Bartholen]

I've been rewatching Bojack Horseman, on Season 3 episode 4 right now. Goddamn, this is probably still the best thing Netflix ever put out. I've only watched it in parts after it finished, so not having to wait for new seasons allows me to really appreciate the commitment to continuity and characterization this time. There's so much detail and care put into every episode from season-long arcs to the tiniest side gags. On one hand I'm kind of peeved that it remains a sleeper hit to this day, but on the other it not having a Stranger Things level status in Netflix's catalogue meant that it could just kind of do its own thing. It having been five years since the show ended only makes its ruminations on the unnoticed passage of time hit all the harder. It kind of freaks me the fuck out.

The performances in this were definitely overlooked big time. Alison Brie, Paul F Tompkins, Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, but especially Aaron Paul give some of the best acting of the 2010s as cartoon characters. It's just remarkable how well they all balance playing goofy cartoon characters and the hard-hitting emotional beats. Aaron Paul is straight up unrecognizable when you consider that this show started within a year of the ending of Breaking Bad. Whoever pegged him for a voice role should just win all the awards, all of them.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years: Meh / Great

Latest standup special from Burr. Still just as jaded, but acknowledging his outlook on life and the inanity of the day-to-day had to change.

Not bad, but miles from great. It was basically a diatribe against his "old self," the grumpy, middle-aged man who wasn't going to last treading the same path as the one that garnered him comic fame. Still very much in his lane of comedy, but a tacit apology for who he "was," and semi-explanation about how he's changed. But it feels very disingenuous, because the jokes are told in a tone that is very self-aware in that he still clearly holds the same old tendencies, he's just staring at them through a lens of someone who has begrudgingly changed for others' benefit, e.g.: he leads with jokes about being more agreeable with his wife, but it's implied he clearly thinks it's ridiculous and stupid, "but hey, she's happy, so it must be the right thing to do, right?" It was like watching an recovering alcoholic telling stories from his past, but clearly enjoying the drunken memories more than the sober present.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I watched Adolescence. A mini-series (is that still a word we use?) on Netflix. It's 4 episodes, 1 hour each, and it's about a boy who murdered a girl from his high school. Not too interesting on that front, but the way it's shot is rather captivating. Each of the 4 episodes is a "one-shot" where the camera never cuts, it just drifts from character to character within the environment. It's likely not a true one-shot since they're able to hide that very well today, but I can't say I could see the seams. Other than the few times the camera entered a vehicle - when you can kinda spot the compositing a tad - the whole thing comes off very fluidly and natural.

The story is nothing we haven't seen before, but the way in which the camera hardly ever gives you an out (being a one-shot) very much puts you in the same sense of inescapability as the characters. The first episode benefits the most from this. If you've ever been to a police station or a hospital due to an emergency you'll recognize that feeling of being stuck in a situation you want to get out of but can't.

It can come off a bit PSA-ish, but it was a good watch overall.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Re: Beef. I personally loved it. And by no means am I into grim/dark/cynical for its own sake and actually do a feel a lot of "prestige" and streaming shows lean to hard into that. But I though Beef did what they did really well.

Re: Invincible- that last episode actually felt gratuitous. I don't know if I wanna watch it anymore after that.

Here's some hot garbage I watched:

Surface. Apple TV+. Season 1
It's about a woman who has amnesia so yes it's a bunch of cliched hackiness. It turns out her husband's a creepy schmuck, her side-piece a shifty weirdo, and she is actually the worst. The show takes some unintentionally hilarious plot shortcuts and an edgey teenage girl's understanding of romantic drama and spits out some real top level good-bad entertainment.
Wife and I started watching it because we recognized the actress; continued watching it to see where the mystery box was going; then finished the season because we were enjoying laughing at it.