What TV are you watching and how would you rate it? [Revive from FRDB]

[Angry Floof]

Pharyngula thought it's okay, but with too many bloody breasts.

Altered Carbon: Interestingly Problematic

I found the story weak at best and the entire series based mainly in gratuitous gore and violence. I only liked the Poe character. Love that guy. I'd like to see more of him. A Poe spin off would be awesome.

edit: I also liked some of the technological ideas and possible consequences of essentially defeating death. If only the series had more deeply and philosophically explored that.

 

[Angry Floof]

The End of the F***ing World - 9/10

British/Netflix black comedy-drama about a damaged teenage couple who run away and go on a road-trip crime spree. Very Bonnie and Clyde/Natural Born Killers. Great performances all around.

I give that one high marks as well. Good story, good performances, good character development, surprising but actually realistic plot twists. Good dark humor. They could leave off and never air another episode and I would consider it a good finished product even with the sort of potential cliff hanger at the end.

 

[DolphinDynasty]

Considering picking up Fate/Stay Night. Just because bored.

 

[Jon Osterman]

Just finished this myself, and agree with your assessment.

Altered Carbon
★★★☆☆

Deducted two stars for weak storytelling. Everything else was largely well-executed.

I loved it. It is the best show on Netflix since The Expanse.

 

[TSwizzle]

Joel McHale Show, 8/10; "The Soup" is now on Netflix ! If you are familiar with "The Soup" then this is pretty much the same thing. I'm glad it's back.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Pharyngula thought it's okay, but with too many bloody breasts.

Altered Carbon: Interestingly Problematic

I found the story weak at best and the entire series based mainly in gratuitous gore and violence. I only liked the Poe character. Love that guy. I'd like to see more of him. A Poe spin off would be awesome.

edit: I also liked some of the technological ideas and possible consequences of essentially defeating death. If only the series had more deeply and philosophically explored that.

This series felt like the kind where the book is much better. Anyone here read the book?

 

[prideandfall]

Pharyngula thought it's okay, but with too many bloody breasts.

Altered Carbon: Interestingly Problematic

I found the story weak at best and the entire series based mainly in gratuitous gore and violence. I only liked the Poe character. Love that guy. I'd like to see more of him. A Poe spin off would be awesome.

edit: I also liked some of the technological ideas and possible consequences of essentially defeating death. If only the series had more deeply and philosophically explored that.

This series felt like the kind where the book is much better. Anyone here read the book?

it's one of my favorite books of all time, in fact.

basically it's like this:
the first 5 episodes are more or less a pretty decent adaptation of the *events* that take place in the book.
the last 5 episodes are a completely off-the-rails story made up for the show which is in no way related to the book whatsoever.

the book is written as a hard-boiled noir gumshoe detective novel that just happens to be set in the backdrop of a pretty well crafted and fascinating future, and the book is written from the 1st person perspective of takeshi (there are no parts of the novel that aren't written from his point of view) - so this means the book includes a LOT of inner monologue, which is mostly takeshi's thoughts and observations on the events unfolding around him, sprinkled with memories of his life as a hoof rat on harlan's world, his time in the envoy corps, and his time as a mercenary after leaving the corps.

this inner monologue gives the book a LOT of subtext and a lot of reflection on how the events in the story relate to human nature, the effects of PTSD, how technology has changed the human psyche, all that kind of stuff.
all the things you feel like were maybe hinted at in the show but not explored? that's ALL in the book and it's pretty much the whole *point* of the book when you look at the novel in its entirety, in a lot of ways the story is just an excuse to allow for a broad contemplation of philosophical ideas.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

The Mindy Project - 6/10

A show about a doctor in New York and her attempts to find love et al. Fairly funny most of the time, but it can be hit or miss a lot. One weird thing is that it tends to drop characters out of the lineup with absolutely no warning and then just never mentions them again - it's kind of odd and you just realize a few episodes later that whats-her-name just isn't around anymore.

 

[blastula]

Winter Olympics 7/10

It's been uneven. Started out as a gripping horror show with a drone army snowboarder giving me dystopian nightmares. Then early on Mikaela Shiffrin won some race which was nice but then there she was kissing on some dirty French skier and I said at the time that guy is no good for her, so I liked the part where he got sent home after going all Ivan Drago on his team. Then NBC pulled some awkward retcon shenanigans where they first announced Anna Veith won the Super G only to inexplicably change it to some snowboarder champion who never finished better than 19th in a skiing race before this. Not believable, took me out of the story. But then it picked up with that Canadian women's hockey player hard case who practically threw her silver medal back at the official. Love how they make them come right back out on the ice after having all their dreams shattered, that's a promising dramatic setup. But then things calmed down with curling, calmed way down. I thought the Olympics were about athletics. How did this slip in? If doping can't help you win, it's not a sport. Not even the Russians would bother doping any of their curlers. I always feel bad for the curling alternate, which must be the most boring and thankless position in all of sports/games, but then I was hoping for a twist and they would put him in for the US men's team's closer (I won't say skip) John Shuster. He made this one throw against Norway that missed so bad, it looked like the rest of the team was about to mutiny. I was telling everyone I know Shuster was garbage, I wanted him gone so bad. But then I saw him breaking down when being interviewed after beating Canada (after the first time, not the second one, the US beat them twice you know, yes, that's twice), and then I felt like such an asshole for what I said, it really taught me something. So, there was good closure in the end.

 

[Underseer]

Up to episode 4 of Black Lightning. I'm enjoying it more and more.

The other CW shows just couldn't keep my interest for a variety of reasons. I can see why other people like them, they just weren't for me.

Black Lightning is much like the other CW shows, but is relentlessly political and topical. Turns out that makes for a superhero show that keeps my interest. Plus, I'm more of a Marvel fan, so I never read any Black Lightning comic books. I'm genuinely enjoying the character, the supporting characters and the story. His daughters are just as mule-headed as he is.

 

[Jayjay]

Up to episode 4 of Black Lightning. I'm enjoying it more and more.

The other CW shows just couldn't keep my interest for a variety of reasons. I can see why other people like them, they just weren't for me.

Black Lightning is much like the other CW shows, but is relentlessly political and topical. Turns out that makes for a superhero show that keeps my interest. Plus, I'm more of a Marvel fan, so I never read any Black Lightning comic books. I'm genuinely enjoying the character, the supporting characters and the story. His daughters are just as mule-headed as he is.

"Relentlessly topical": Black people and drug dealing. It was topical when Spider-Man and Green Arrow dealt with it in the 70s, and while it's arguably still topical it's hardly anything new. But still, the other CW shows are such a low bar that Black Lightning is doing alright in comparison and I'll continue to watch it.

Besides, it's got James Remar going for it.

 

[Jayjay]

Speaking of superheroes, I recently watched

Legion (season 1)
9/10

This mind-bending X-Men spinoff stands up to any of the Netflix shows, easily. The faux-retro look and the fact that the superpowers are more about telepathy and the astral plane rather than people punching hard or shooting lightings out of their orifices makes it quite refreshing. The main villain is interesting, but I kind of regret that they didn't go far enough with David's multiple personalities in this re-imagining. Looking forward to season 2.

 

[beero1000]

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel - 9/10

Amazon comedy/drama about a 1950s NYC housewife who takes up stand-up comedy. Really fun, great dialogue/acting/characters. Witty one-liners and scathing social commentary galore.

 

[TSwizzle]

Retribution, 7/10: A four part miniseries available on Netflix. It's a drama/thriller that has many (possibly too many) plot twists but the premise is pretty neat. It kicks off with the brutal murder of a newly wed couple in what looks like a burglary gone wrong. The killer flees the city (Edinburgh, Scotland) and makes his way to a remote farmstead during a violent storm. He skids off the road, overturns the car and is badly injured. The family that are staying in the farm help the injured killer. But the family helping him are also related to his murder victims. Eventually the family piece things together and that they have the killer of their loved ones at their mercy. It is well acted, great performances from the cast, nice scenery and haunting music.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Winter Olympics 7/10

It's been uneven. Started out as a gripping horror show with a drone army snowboarder giving me dystopian nightmares. Then early on Mikaela Shiffrin won some race which was nice but then there she was kissing on some dirty French skier and I said at the time that guy is no good for her, so I liked the part where he got sent home after going all Ivan Drago on his team. Then NBC pulled some awkward retcon shenanigans where they first announced Anna Veith won the Super G only to inexplicably change it to some snowboarder champion who never finished better than 19th in a skiing race before this. Not believable, took me out of the story. But then it picked up with that Canadian women's hockey player hard case who practically threw her silver medal back at the official. Love how they make them come right back out on the ice after having all their dreams shattered, that's a promising dramatic setup. But then things calmed down with curling, calmed way down. I thought the Olympics were about athletics. How did this slip in? If doping can't help you win, it's not a sport. Not even the Russians would bother doping any of their curlers. I always feel bad for the curling alternate, which must be the most boring and thankless position in all of sports/games, but then I was hoping for a twist and they would put him in for the US men's team's closer (I won't say skip) John Shuster. He made this one throw against Norway that missed so bad, it looked like the rest of the team was about to mutiny. I was telling everyone I know Shuster was garbage, I wanted him gone so bad. But then I saw him breaking down when being interviewed after beating Canada (after the first time, not the second one, the US beat them twice you know, yes, that's twice), and then I felt like such an asshole for what I said, it really taught me something. So, there was good closure in the end.

Yeah, the Curling was absurd, especially both US knockout matches. The ice completely turned to shit by the 8th end and no one could curl a stone to get a plate of poutine. The US was up by the 7th end and that was the difference. The US against Sweden... with that monster end. Wow! I watched most of the stuff through NBCSN or online. Much better than trying to watch the coverage in prime time. US won golds in Curling and Cross Country Skiing. The US doesn't give a fuck, but I thought that was awesome.

 

[ZiprHead]

Anyone heard of this?

[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/4a5OaxWEOxI[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Underseer]

Up to episode 4 of Black Lightning. I'm enjoying it more and more.

The other CW shows just couldn't keep my interest for a variety of reasons. I can see why other people like them, they just weren't for me.

Black Lightning is much like the other CW shows, but is relentlessly political and topical. Turns out that makes for a superhero show that keeps my interest. Plus, I'm more of a Marvel fan, so I never read any Black Lightning comic books. I'm genuinely enjoying the character, the supporting characters and the story. His daughters are just as mule-headed as he is.

"Relentlessly topical": Black people and drug dealing. It was topical when Spider-Man and Green Arrow dealt with it in the 70s, and while it's arguably still topical it's hardly anything new. But still, the other CW shows are such a low bar that Black Lightning is doing alright in comparison and I'll continue to watch it.

Besides, it's got James Remar going for it.

That stuff you're complaining about is baked into the DNA of the comic book story (guess when it was written?). They cover plenty of modern issues like police brutality, people protesting Confederate statues, white supremacists killing protesters by driving cars into crowds, etc.

PS [ent]mdash[/ent] My deepest apologies to anyone who gets triggered by the fact that this TV show presents murderous white supremacists as villains. You must feel so oppressed right now.

 

[Underseer]

Speaking of superheroes, I recently watched

Legion (season 1)
9/10

This mind-bending X-Men spinoff stands up to any of the Netflix shows, easily. The faux-retro look and the fact that the superpowers are more about telepathy and the astral plane rather than people punching hard or shooting lightings out of their orifices makes it quite refreshing. The main villain is interesting, but I kind of regret that they didn't go far enough with David's multiple personalities in this re-imagining. Looking forward to season 2.

Legion was mind-blowing for me on multiple levels.

I can't believe mainstream audiences went for this. I was certain something like Legion would be too weird for regular audiences to get into. It takes the "unreliable narrator" thing to absurd places. David has so many superpowers that not only is the narrator unreliable, but reality itself is no longer reliable. And yes, most of what we see is happening in people's heads where "reality" is even more malleable and unreliable.

I can't believe someone made a live-action version of the Shadow King that was this terrifying. He's almost more of an abstract concept than a person. Had you asked me before Legion came out, I would have told you that the Shadow King would be relentlessly silly in alive action TV show and should never be included in a live action anything. I would have been wrong.

I don't even care that they made major changes to the story. They kept the bones of the story intact and preserved the overall feel of things. Heck, we even have the typical Legion thing of multiple factions who think they can use David as a weapon for this or that cause (that never ends well for anyone).

One fun detail for any non-comic book people reading this:

The Shadow King claims he was created by the first human nightmare. The nature of his existence is weird enough that this could be true, but he's also the kind of person who would lie about that. So yeah, the villain is also unreliable. You can't trust much of anything he says either.

 

[Underseer]

Just finished season 1 of Happy! 8.5/10

Everything I said about it before applies. No one will ever mistaken it for high art, but that was the most bizarre bit of absurdism I've seen anywhere, and I watch a lot of anime. I can't think of any time I've seen quite that combination of adorable and horrible.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Finished Season Two of Daredevil. Very enjoyable. I've been letting these things take a while, one episode a week. Makes it a bit better having to wait.

The one question I have is 'Why does Daredevil seem to think severe brain trauma (that he constantly provides his victims) with is in any way superior to death?'

On to The Defenders (and my umpteenth run through of DS9).