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

bluegate

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I also watched The Sandman and thought it to be quite the amusing show.

I liked how quickly stuff moved, no dragging stuff out for 20 episodes. Also quite liked the self contained stories within episodes; Calliope, the immortal guy.
 

gorfias

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Cobra Kai Season 5 on Netflix

Started way back on Youtube Red which I don't think is a thing anymore.

This is nostalgia done right. Reverent, mostly, of the 1980ish characters while introducing us to new characters and situations. As the Critical Drinker might write, better than it deserves to be. I loved Karate Kid 1, liked 2, didn't bother with 3 or 4. Even so, those characters are brought back to good effect in a show that is part Karate Kid, part High School Musical with fighting.

It does have Empire Strikes Back problems. Characters train in Karate for 3 weeks become Chuck Norris. (Edit: had Bruce Lee here, best movie martial artist of all time BUT not in Karate. Chuck? Karate)

Still, this has been more fun than I deserve. 9/10

 
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Hawki

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Crisis on Infinite Earths (2/5)

To clarify something, I watched season 8 of Arrow up to the point of Crisis, then watched all the Crisis episodes, then resumed Arrow. So you'll get a review of that shortly. But focusing on Crisis in of itself...I'm sorry, this is just bad. As in, it's bad on a fundamental level in every aspect of its storytelling...almost. It's only the final episode that changes this at all, which prevents this from being a 1/5, but this is just...bad.

To illustrate why, I'm going to give some quick examples that cover the first four episodes:

-Everything is rushed. Things move at a breakneck pace that allow nothing to sink in.

-At the same time, there's also padding in this. Characters are recruited, yet only die later on. For instance, a sub-plot is spent on recruiting an alternate Superman, but he's killed off at the end of episode 3. So...what's the point? This kind of stuff is done over and over, where time is spent on pointless fluff, yet the actual pacing is constant with no time to breathe.

-The writing is just terrible at times. Actually, most of the time, to the extent I actually felt sorry for the actors. I mean, take Tom Cavanagh - from what I've seen on The Flash, I'll say it, he's an excellent actor, who's had to play numerous versions of the same character, sometimes bouncing off himself (so to speak), and the man deserves major props. So it pains me to see him wearing this stupid costume as "Pariah" who exists only to deliver tragic speeches in hushed whispers. This is just sad.

-The Anti-Monitor is a terrible villain. His entire character could basically be summed up as "I'm evil, I look evil, and I want to destroy the multiverse and then create a new universe that I can rule. Also, I employ shadow demons that are actually less resilient than humans, because all it takes is a single punch/kick to make them dissipate." You may think I'm being glib, but no, that's all I can say about him.

Also, on the fundamental laws of physics, how does the Anti-Moniter even exist in a universe? It's stated that he's made of anti-matter (in a rare moment that actually approaches scientific literacy, it's mentioned that tossing him into the sun would cause a cataclysmic reaction given how matter and anti-matter react violently to each other), but he's still touching matter in our universe, right? Y'know, air, ground...the same is true when they're in his dimension, so shouldn't things go boom immediately?

-By extension, this is an issue that this kind of media has in general, but the 'power levels' are so wide that it makes certain characters feel redundant. Like, on one end of the spectrum you have Superman and Supergirl (I shouldn't need to explain), and at the other, characters like Batwoman, White Canary, and Green Arrow, who can, um...punch and shoot arrows? Yeah, something's off with this picture, and it gets especially rediculous in what are meant to be big fight scenes that make you want to think that everyone has a role to play, but don't. When the final fight has Supes and Supesgirl flying around shooting lasers at the monitor, while on the ground, multiple characters' abilities are just "shoot at bad guy"...yeah, something's wrong with this picture.

-Also, this has no sense of scale. So, Earth-38 is evacuated to Earth-1 with around 3 billion people in starships (just go with it), and Oliver Queen hangs back long enough to save another billion lives...all of which is redundant because the original multiverse is destroyed anyway. So, what's the point? And a billion people are...y'know what, fine, whatever, I refuse to put more thought into this than the writers did.

-There's also something else I want to comment on, and that's in the specific context of Arrow itself. Season 1 started out down to earth where the biggest bad was "guy who's as good with a bow as you," and it ends with Oliver as "Spectre" fighting an evil god for the fate of the multiverse. Yeah, sure, whatever. It's part of why I dont get why so many people give season 4 flak for bringing in magic, since a) that came in with season 1, and b) have you seen this crap? Are you seriously telling me that everything up to this point is meant to be taken as congruent?

Also, the battle for the multiverse takes place in an abandoned quarry, because Power Rangers did it, or something. Fine. Whatever.

So, everything up to episode 5 is outright terrible. Episode 5, however, does do some things right in that it allows the serial to finally breathe, as characters adjust to Earth Prime. Of course, it's still nonsensical (the multiverse was rebooted, all the original parallel Earths are now one Earth, but there's still a multiverse out there, so...what was the point of any of it?), but it's at least something.

That said, it's not enough to save it. One of the best post-Crisis sub-plots in season 6 of The Flash was Barry searching for his parents' graves, since the geography has shifted on the new Earth, and in the end, he's never able to find them. That, and it being reinforced that "hey, trillions of people died, and we're the only ones who'll ever know about it"), and various other things like that. Episode 5 is in that same vein of giving the serial SOME level of gravitas, but it's nothing compared to it.

So, at the end of the day, Crisis is terrible. It's bad, and the writers should feel bad, and my sympathies to the actors who had to spout their garbage. And at the end of the day, what was the point of it? The multiverse still exists, and I don't get why it was so important to merge settings when inter-setting travel was pretty easy anyway, done as early as Flash season 2. So what was the point? I have no idea what the original comic is like, but that's beside the point. However it may stand as an adaptation, this is just...plain...bad.

Also, no rating, since it's not really a season, but if it was, it would be at rock bottom. Yes. Really.

Anyway, time to finish Arrow, and then I'm done with this crap for at least the next month.
 
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Hawki

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Arrow: Season 8 (3/5)

Well, that's it. We've hit rock bottom. :(

While not outright bad, season 8 is the worst season of Arrow, and has got to be one of the most bizzare seasons of television I've ever seen in how it's constructed. Because of its length, I'm actually going to give very quick thoughts on each episode, because there's actually some really good stuff here, but there's all this drek that I have to deal with at the same time. So on that note:

-Ep. 1: Reasonably solid, Oliver ends up on Earth-2, where here, his mother is still alive while he's dead, and Tommy is the Dark Archer in this timeline. It actually got me hopeful that this season would be a sort of "greatest hits" season to cap out the series. Has some touching scenes...that are immediately rendered null as Earth-2 is destroyed. It's tonal whiplash, but okay episode, you mostly did a good job.

Also, the flash-forwards of Season 7 continue, and I'll be honest, I'm only mentioning them here because Wikipedia mentioned them. I really have nothing to say here, but you'll see why this is stupid later on.

-Ep. 2: Callbacks to season 3, Katana...zzz...

-Ep. 3: This was actually pretty decent as Oliver, Thea, and Talia team up to recover a McGuffin. Nice to see Thea back, and there's some good moments here.

-Ep. 4: The 2040 cast end up in the present, which is sort of nice, but still, zzz...

-Ep. 5: Still nothing to say, I barely remember any of episode 4 or 5. God, this season isn't doing too well, maybe the next episode will-

-Ep. 6: Holy shit, this episode is probably the best in the entire season, and also arguably one of the best in the entire series.

Basically, Oliver and Laurel get stuck in a time loop in an alternate dimension where Quentin is still alive. If Quentin dies, the loop is reset. Long (and very good) story short, they get further and further each time, but they can never save him. Laurel, coming to peace with the original Quentin's death, is thus let free from the loop, while Oliver refuses to give in. In the final loop, we have some of the best action in the season (e.g. a single tracking shot of Oliver and Quentin evading gunfire, with Oliver dropping bodies left, right, and centre), before realizing that there's no way out. Oliver has to accept Quentin's death, accept his own inevitable death in the Crisis, cue feels. While the setup for the episode is arguably contrived, the episode itself is excellent. Now having said that, I'm sure that the next episode will be:

-Ep. 7: Welp, this is stupid. The cast go back to Lian Yu where old enemies (Fryers, Billy Wintergreen...yes, some of the truly best villains in the series...) are resurrected, never question why they're resurrected, and try to kill the protagonists before they can use the McGuffin. It does have some nice stuff in it (e.g. Yao Fei is resurrected as well), but I'm left wondering where Slade is in all this, since if you're going to do a "greatest hits" season, surely you'd get him in? I dunno, maybe Maru Bennett couldn't/wouldnt' come back, but fine, whatever.

-Ep. 8: Episode 8 is the Crisis episode. It's garbage. Thanks for asking.

-Ep. 9: Okay, I'm going to have to take a detour to explain something here, as to why this season is, arguably, fundamentally broken.

Since the entire history of the setting has been rewritten, that means, among other things, the 2040 timeline that was introduced in season 7 never happens. In part, this is due to time travel shenannigans (e.g. the characters are forewarned of what will happen, so they can take steps to prevent it), but consider this from a writing standpoint. You have an entire season depicting a future timeline, that continues into the first half of your next season, then utilize a plot device that means none of it ever happened. I thought the 2040 plotline was stupid to begin with, but this is...wow. Just wow. What's worse is that it's indicated in the next episode that part of why the season 7 2040 timeline never happened is because of Oliver's literal deus ex machina in Crisis, so I guess mortal energy is nothing compared to your protagonist literally becoming God.

But fine, what about Ep. 9 itself? Well, it's a backdoor pilot to a show that was never made (Green Arrow and the Canaries). That's right, in a season of ten episodes, one of them is dedicated to a crossover, another dedicated to an entirely separate show. Basically, Star City 2040 is utopia, but bad stuff is afoot, Mia's memories from the old timeline are restored (the thing is, the show doesn't agree with me, but I think Laurel and Dinah are dicks to make her do that), and more time/memory shannanigans, and look, I don't care. In a hypothetical scenario, I would have enjoyed this being made, but based on the drek here, I'm past caring.

-Ep. 10: I'm really mixed on this episode - there's stuff happening on screen that's literally moving and irritating at the same time. Basically, multiverse has been rebooted, and certain history has been rewritten, so that various characters are still alive. I'm really not fond of this. Bear in mind that episode 6 was themed around having to accept death and that you can't save everyone, but it turns out that if you become Space Jesus, you can. So on one hand, the unveiling of the Green Arrow statue and the speeches from Quentin and John are good, but surrounded by characters that were dead in the original timeline, it feels like a writing cheat. God forbid that anyone stay dead in this multiverse. Heck, even Himiko is there after being killed in the prior season - she couldn't even stay dead for a full season because God forbid there be any lasting consequences. And Slade is missing because of reasons I don't know, despite there being all the reason in the world to include him.

There's also other niggles, with it being commented on that crime basically just "stopped" in Star City, and it's implied that Oliver's rewriting of history caused it to happen, so I guess becoming Space Jesus accomplishes more in a few minutes than 7 years worth of crime fighting. What's ironic is that the episode features flashbacks to events in season 1, which not only feature great action (Oliver storming a warehouse, dropping bodies everywhere), but is a bitter reminder of how this show started (down to earth, gritty, high violence, moral ambiguity), and ended in a season with a battle against gods and multiverse reboots. I think the funeral/statue unveiling stuff is excellently done in of itself, but it's tainted by association with the season as a whole.

Oh, and it ends with Felicity and Oliver in the afterlife, or something? I dunno, I'm past caring. I think it's actually kind of sweet, but the context is just bleh. Sometimes, the hero dies at the end, and that's okay, you don't need to bring the supernatural into it. Also, considering that the ending of season 7 in 2040 leads into this ending in season 8 means that the same events happened in both timelines, or something? Or was season 7 a fakeout? And ah, fuck it!

So, yeah. To rank all of the Arrow seasons, it now goes:

8) Season 8
7) Season 3
6) Season 7
5) Season 5
4) Season 6
3) Season 4
2) Season 2
1) Season 1

That's a fairly unorthadox rating, but you can see the trend - starts great, gets worse over time. Lots of TV shows have this problem, but it's a real shame to see what this show started out as, and what it became. I really shouldn't be surprised, the same thing happened with The Flash, but still...

Anyway, yeah. Current Arrowverse rating is below. I don't see myself coming back to this in awhile - I'm just done at this point.

29) The Flash: Season 7

28) Black Lightning: Season 2

27) Black Lightning: Season 1

26) Arrow: Season 8

25) Arrow: Season 3

24) Arrow: Season 7

23) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 6

22) The Flash: Season 5

21) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 3

20) The Flash: Season 4

19) The Flash: Season 6

18) Stargirl: Season 2

17) The Flash: Season 3

16) Supergirl: Season 1

15) Arrow: Season 5

14) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 1

13) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2

12) Arrow: Season 6

11) Supergirl: Season 2

10) The Flash: Season 1

9) The Flash: Season 2

8) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5

7) Superman and Lois: Season 1

6) Black Lightning: Season 3

5) Arrow: Season 4

4) Legends of Tomorrow: Season 4

3) Stargirl: Season 1

2) Arrow: Season 2

1) Arrow: Season 1
 
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Kyrian007

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Cobra Kai Season 5 (4/5):
Really had fun. Liked the lessened focus on the high school stuff and focusing the story more on the adult characters. Previous seasons did the opposite and suffered (slightly) for it.

Outer Range (4/5):
Not nearly as fun as Cobra Kai... but oddly compelling. Didn't see much hype around it, now or at the time of its release. Its a little Lost, mixed with Dallas, mixed with a little Twin Peaks, and a dash of There Will be Blood... sprinkled on rural Wyoming. I doubt it gets a second season, so prepare to never know what the hell is going on. But maybe that's a good thing, a mystery loses appeal when solved. And in retrospect one thing makes me laugh. The central mystery literally revolves around a hole in the ground.
 

Casual Shinji

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Finally finished The Sandman.

Yeah not gonna lie, what a wet fucking fart of a finale. I found myself laughing out loud at how ridiculous and lazy things were. Rose Walker and her storyline were ridiculously boring, I felt like I was watching a completely different show. Meh.

I still want to see a sequel but good lord keep it fucking consistent next time.
The first episode managed to get me invested in an abusive father and his abused son who only show up for one episode, yet the final four episodes couldn't get me to give a fuck about anyone. Both the writing and the acting took a huge dip after Episode 6 for some reason.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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The first episode managed to get me invested in an abusive farther and his abused son who only show up for one episode, yet the final four episodes couldn't get me to give a fuck about anyone. Both the writing and the acting took a huge dip after Episode 6 for some reason.
I wouldn't say it's just the writing and acting. The show also looks noticeably worse in the later episodes. None of the funky visual and sound effects from the first half.
 

gorfias

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The first episode managed to get me invested in an abusive farther and his abused son who only show up for one episode, yet the final four episodes couldn't get me to give a fuck about anyone. Both the writing and the acting took a huge dip after Episode 6 for some reason.
I wouldn't say it's just the writing and acting. The show also looks noticeably worse in the later episodes. None of the funky visual and sound effects from the first half.
Hope you'll check out the last episode added after all the previous dropped. 2 short stories from the comic books, both worth watching. One with cats, the other with a muse. The muse comic book was brutal by comparison. They really toned it down but it's still good.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, episode 1

You know.... *sigh*... I didn't have high expectations for this. I'm full of franchise fatigue and I never bothered with the Hobbit movies but I figure, what the heck, I have a Prime membership, at least it'll look pretty, I'll enjoy some billion dollar production. I was just expecting some slightly tedious nerd fantasy shit.

Y'all- this episode was shockingly bad. I was laughing AT it at times, and I didn't expect that.

The writing/dialogue
Imagine a 14 yr old who read Rings and was inspired to write fan fiction about it, coming up with dialogue that sounded Tolkienesque but of course they don't know what they're doing and it's adorably lame. This show is like if that kid has a billion dollars to actually get it filmed.
At one point they're in a cave and angry blonde says that the torches don't emit warmth because the cave is full of too much evil.
Every time an elf spoke it's like "the stone doesn't reflect the light of the mountain in ourselves" or some shit, it's so bad.

Editing
Especially when Elrond is on screen for some reason, the camera is wilder than a FromSoftware boss fight. Considering that this whole thing was just people talking, I have not seen filmed dialogue this poorly realized since I was sitting through college indy films. You're over here, they're over there, this one's talking the other way, nothing has any weight or direction... there's no visual or emotional coherence, it's so weird.

Pacing
Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah. blah blah. TROLL FIGHT. Blah blah blah for a fucking hour. My dudes- I have a high tolerance for fantasy nerd bullshit world-building and even I completely checked out during one of the scenes.

Even scenes without much dialogue were paced so interminably that it was baffling. The end scene were the elves were sailing into the light and she decides to bail- it felt forever, in a sad attempt to make it look really important and epic but it was dumb.

All of this came together in the pinnacle of abysmal television- the conversation with Elrond and Galadriel. I'm sure they're good actors but the whole time I'm like "what is wrong with her," she looked like she was gonna yell or cry at things that weren't there.. it all just felt so off and silly, like everything is trying to be INTENSE even though nothing's happening.

Visuals
YELLOW. GREEN. GREY.
Each level has a color, like a freaking video game. Also a tree with light like Elden Ring. YELLOW YELLOW YELLOW ELVES ARE YELLOW.
Frankly just cheap looking, like a DC comics show on the CW. Considering the cost, this was pretty shocking. I mean it's not terrible and I wouldn't mind if the rest weren't so bad but I figured at least I'd have pretty scenery to look at. The snow level in the beginning was pretty though and the troll fight was corny but fun at least so maybe action scenes will be good if they ever shut up long enough to have them?

Most importantly, this show offered nothing in its first episode beyond letting me know that this is a Lord of the Rings show. No humor, no relatable stakes, no personality, no humanity. The one plotline that looks like it might offer that is the classic forbidden love story between the elf warrior and the doctor but they both are so sexless and lame and annoying.

I just saw AV Club or somewhere all episode 4 "exposition heavy." jfc.

So... is this the show? I understand the first episodes of a show can be rough and maybe some of the editing and visuals can improve. But if the characters and dialogue are consistent, I can't take it and frankly, I don't know how anyone does. By any measure of basic visual entertainment, this failed on all fronts.
Anecdotally the few people I know who checked out basically agreed.

Hearing Darren, Nick, and Marty praise this show is baffling, and I don't know what's going on. Either it gets much much better real fast or nerd-brain is making us all rot or something, I don't know, it's very weird.

Don't know if I'm going to try episode 2- they're all over an hour wtf lol
 

gorfias

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Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, episode 1

You know.... *sigh*... I didn't have high expectations for this. I'm full of franchise fatigue and I never bothered with the Hobbit movies but I figure, what the heck, I have a Prime membership, at least it'll look pretty, I'll enjoy some billion dollar production. I was just expecting some slightly tedious nerd fantasy shit.

Y'all- this episode was shockingly bad. I was laughing AT it at times, and I didn't expect that.

The writing/dialogue
Imagine a 14 yr old who read Rings and was inspired to write fan fiction about it, coming up with dialogue that sounded Tolkienesque but of course they don't know what they're doing and it's adorably lame. This show is like if that kid has a billion dollars to actually get it filmed.
At one point they're in a cave and angry blonde says that the torches don't emit warmth because the cave is full of too much evil.
Every time an elf spoke it's like "the stone doesn't reflect the light of the mountain in ourselves" or some shit, it's so bad.

Editing
Especially when Elrond is on screen for some reason, the camera is wilder than a FromSoftware boss fight. Considering that this whole thing was just people talking, I have not seen filmed dialogue this poorly realized since I was sitting through college indy films. You're over here, they're over there, this one's talking the other way, nothing has any weight or direction... there's no visual or emotional coherence, it's so weird.

Pacing
Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah. blah blah. TROLL FIGHT. Blah blah blah for a fucking hour. My dudes- I have a high tolerance for fantasy nerd bullshit world-building and even I completely checked out during one of the scenes.

Even scenes without much dialogue were paced so interminably that it was baffling. The end scene were the elves were sailing into the light and she decides to bail- it felt forever, in a sad attempt to make it look really important and epic but it was dumb.

All of this came together in the pinnacle of abysmal television- the conversation with Elrond and Galadriel. I'm sure they're good actors but the whole time I'm like "what is wrong with her," she looked like she was gonna yell or cry at things that weren't there.. it all just felt so off and silly, like everything is trying to be INTENSE even though nothing's happening.

Visuals
YELLOW. GREEN. GREY.
Each level has a color, like a freaking video game. Also a tree with light like Elden Ring. YELLOW YELLOW YELLOW ELVES ARE YELLOW.
Frankly just cheap looking, like a DC comics show on the CW. Considering the cost, this was pretty shocking. I mean it's not terrible and I wouldn't mind if the rest weren't so bad but I figured at least I'd have pretty scenery to look at. The snow level in the beginning was pretty though and the troll fight was corny but fun at least so maybe action scenes will be good if they ever shut up long enough to have them?

Most importantly, this show offered nothing in its first episode beyond letting me know that this is a Lord of the Rings show. No humor, no relatable stakes, no personality, no humanity. The one plotline that looks like it might offer that is the classic forbidden love story between the elf warrior and the doctor but they both are so sexless and lame and annoying.

I just saw AV Club or somewhere all episode 4 "exposition heavy." jfc.

So... is this the show? I understand the first episodes of a show can be rough and maybe some of the editing and visuals can improve. But if the characters and dialogue are consistent, I can't take it and frankly, I don't know how anyone does. By any measure of basic visual entertainment, this failed on all fronts.
Anecdotally the few people I know who checked out basically agreed.

Hearing Darren, Nick, and Marty praise this show is baffling, and I don't know what's going on. Either it gets much much better real fast or nerd-brain is making us all rot or something, I don't know, it's very weird.

Don't know if I'm going to try episode 2- they're all over an hour wtf lol
I loved the LOTR trilogy. 3 huge novels turned into 3 x 3 hour movies. Then they took the children's fairy tale, a small book, called the Hobbit and turned it into 3x3 hour long movies. I saw part 1 in the theater and for the 1st time ever maybe? Fell asleep. I kinda checked the last 2 with one eye as it was on HBO. The dragon Smaug was interesting. But overall it was an over-blown stretched out waste of my time. I tried to watch the new Amazon show in the comfort of home so, that I fell asleep during it was a little more forgivable than at the theater. But, I don't fall asleep watching stuff I'm loving.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Episode four of HotD, 4/5

I was tired though and even the “Behind the Episode” didn’t really explain how yet another disaster got conjured up exactly, so this benefitted me in terms of just wtf happened at the end -

 

Old_Hunter_77

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We just watched the last HotD last night- and that fight scene was confusing in how it was shot and presented, not in what caused it. It was the groom getting punched at some point that made it confusing, since no one seemed to have a problem with him (even the knight boy-toy and Damien said nice things about him while trying to convince the princess to ditch him).
But yeah it was just straight-up Cristen being like Jon Snow- a knight who actually takes the vows and honor stuff seriously.

And this is my main problem with the show- it really does seem like just a weaker copy of Thrones. Which, sure, I expected, so I'll keep watching because of the spectacle and melodrama. But it's just like, for every aspect of Thrones, here is another one but kind of lamer. The only thing missing up until ep 4 was a Littlefinger schemer, and oh look here is one in the garden being all DEVIOUS and GOSSIPY and even doing it with a young impressionable woman married into power but who we will learn is strong inside.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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We just watched the last HotD last night- and that fight scene was confusing in how it was shot and presented, not in what caused it. It was the groom getting punched at some point that made it confusing, since no one seemed to have a problem with him (even the knight boy-toy and Damien said nice things about him while trying to convince the princess to ditch him).
But yeah it was just straight-up Cristen being like Jon Snow- a knight who actually takes the vows and honor stuff seriously.

And this is my main problem with the show- it really does seem like just a weaker copy of Thrones. Which, sure, I expected, so I'll keep watching because of the spectacle and melodrama. But it's just like, for every aspect of Thrones, here is another one but kind of lamer. The only thing missing up until ep 4 was a Littlefinger schemer, and oh look here is one in the garden being all DEVIOUS and GOSSIPY and even doing it with a young impressionable woman married into power but who we will learn is strong inside.
Yeah, basically that but a bigger budget for dragon stuff and set pieces. More of the same story, but without nearly as much buildup or context as the first half of GoT. This is made further evident by the huge time jumps that are about to happen. The show fees like it was almost entirely done for fan servicing but what the hell; it’s something entertaining to close out weekends with.
 

Xprimentyl

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The Speed Cubers: Good / Great

Short documentary about a couple of the world's best Rubik's Cube solvers and the competitions that would see them brought together as competitors, but even more so as friends.

As someone who has never solved a Rubik's Cube in his life, it fascinates that there exist people who can solve one in under seven seconds. This documentary is really touching in that it follows Feliks, an Australian who held many world records, and Max, an American who himself beat many of Feliks' records all while struggling with autism and idolizing Feliks. A worthy watch if you've got 40 minutes to spare. It inspired me to look up YouTube videos on how to solve a cube, but said videos only discouraged me further given despite they sound like they're speaking to a 5-year-old, it's still over my head. I put the cube back in my gf's son's room; gotta find another talent, I guess.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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Warrior, season 1, episodes 1 & 2

Watched this on Nick's glowing recommendations.
It's... ok, so far. It's basically Deadwood without Deadwood's greatest asset- the clever and hilarious dialogue. Or like Peaky Blinders. Yeah that was my first reaction: Chinese Peaky Blinders. And I liked Peaky Blinders, until it started spinning its wheels and I'd had enough. So I don't think I'm in the mood for more of it.

My wife observed that, as with so many of these prestige grimdark period shows, the women are mostly passive and sexualized, and you could argue that it's just the way the times were but that doesn't mean we have to watch it. I kind of agree with her but it doesn't bother me as much- it's just that, as with so many of these shows like the new Star Thrones of Power stuffs, it's just weaker versions of stuff I've already seen.

So I may continue to watch this if I really want to just zone out and watch something but then again probably not with more cool stuff coming to GamePass *shrug*

The show is... fine. It's ok- you got martial arts and crime drama. Dialogue is kind of crap but it's not offensively bad, it's just... there. If the premise of the show interests you, give it a shot, just don't expect anything particularly excellent.

And yeah I know I only saw two episodes but the core qualities are there and not gonna change, it is what it is, and what it is is... fine, it's fine.
 
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Phoenixmgs

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Harley Quinn Season 3 - 7/10

Not quite as good as the 1st 2 seasons but still pretty good. IIRC episodes 3 and 4 were pretty meh (I recall seeing somewhere that the Harley orgy episode trumped The Boys orgy episode, nope it was maybe the worst episode of the season) but picks up again to good status shortly afterward. I wonder how people will take Harley's development at the end, I thought it worked for her character at least within this show.
 

Piscian

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I'm all caught up on Rings of meethreal and TLC's House of Dragons.

Stuck in the Middle earth with you -

I'm not really spitting venom or nor am I singing it's praises. I think it suffers from the same problem the Star Wars franchise has been suffering from for a while now, covering up a lack of investment in the writing with fan service. There's so many characters and story happening thats only really relevant to people who are invested in tolkien fandom. A lot of the Numen...I forget what country its called, feels cheap. It reminds me something I'd see on UPN. The costumes look silly, the writing and acting is pretty rough. Theres a moment in the episode where somebody like.. gathers a crowd to rant about elves and its very obviously extras waiting on their que to chatter or raise their fists. The director didn't take the time to give them any kind of individual instruction which would be fine with a massive crowd, but this is like 30 people. Theres an introduction to ilsidor? idk somebody I should care about but the actor is shit and I don't really care, because it's not compelling. The kid that gets kicked off the boat? This show introduces characters and demands I care about them without giving me reason to. Maybe I missed it, but they never clarified why these people hate elves? I don't get if they are teasing me or what, but at least one person has asked in character and its brushed off. I'm also required to be enchanted with the kinship between Elrond and Durin, why should I? They're both twats. Nothing about this Elves or Dwarves story interests me and I know it should, and is likely the main plot of the show, but they are doing a terrible job of moving it along.

On the positive side of things this whole story with Orc resurgence is interesting. I like this spock elf guy, the sword of sauron mystery is compelling. If I could coalesce my thoughts on the show I think it has an issue with focus and balance. Some of its plotting is fundamentally less interesting and more drawn out than it needs to be. Being a TV show does not giving you full leeway to be boring. This show is boring least 50 percent of the time. I've ended up watching it in bits when I dont have anything better to do. I don't hate it, but man...just get on with it already. I can't say I'd recommend this show to anyone without an investment and curiosity in Tolkein D&D fandom. 6/10...I guess?

Keeping up with the Targaryens -

My opinion on this show is significantly less muddled. It's solid, if less engrossing than Game Of thrones. It's heavily heavily focused on the "intrigue" of the royal court.

One of the smartest things GRRM did with Game of thrones, both show and book is to immediately start with realm effecting stakes. Things are immediately well and truly fucked, with several houses at war for the throne, having far reaching impact on the populace. The leaders from every house were unique and fascinating to watch. Even the bad guys like Tywin are fully formed and you have at least empathy, if not sympathy, for their perspective. My favorite house was Greyjoy, not even an important house. Just because I found them cool, far more so in the books.

House of Peroxide is having none of that, you get to learn about 5 or so people and you spend nearly all your time with 3 of them. Worse, one of them is a Disney princess with all the character of a tarp. I'm being a tad unfair, she's fine, actors fine. Its just that in GOT you view these events from people like the Onion Knight, Lord Varys, Tyrion, and Bronn. Normal people you can "live in". HOD forces you to watch Rhaenyra, but as Joe shmoe butter churner she comes off no different than all the other lords and ladies. I do not "care" whether she becomes queen or not. All that said, its like a slightly less engaging GOT. Its still "fine". 7-8/10.

I'm not sure who all stayed for this episodes teaser, but I guess this all kind of a moot point. This arc is "done"? Crazy direction to take the show. I'm honestly far more interested to see where it goes from here.
 

laggyteabag

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Andor

So the first three episodes released for the new Star Wars show, Andor. The reviews and impressions from social media have been positively glowing. Like "This is the best Star Wars content in years!" glowing.

So I was really excited to watch it after I got home from work yesterday, and... its dull. Just really slow and boring.

And it kind of sucks for me to say that, because the show is obviously really well made. It looks great, it is acted great, I love the grittier Rogue One style of Star Wars, and it isn't constantly making references to other Star Wars content. This is everything that I wanted - but it is just so slow.

There are glimmers of hope, sure. Episode 3 was definitely the best of the three episodes, but 1 and 2 really dragged their feet.

Hopefully it picks up, because I was really excited for this one.
 
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