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

Underseer said:
Two episodes into Krypton. It's more interesting than I was expecting.
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We're about to start watching that, can you say any more about it? The trailers have seemed pretty decent, but I'm worried it'll be a shoddy SyFy production. They haven't done much truly great since BSG.
 
11.22.63

It's a Stephen King story about a guy who stumbles into a time portal back to 1960 and tries to use it to prevent the Kennedy assassination (hence the title). But history doesn't like to be changed so he faces all kinds of obstacles. All in all this is a very well made thriller with more supernatural than science fictiony feel to it. James Franco does a pretty good job at it. Having recently watched some truly godawful time travel shows (Timeless, Legends of Tomorrow), this felt like a refreshing change.
 
I'm with you. I binged Season 2 and really enjoyed it. I don't usually enjoy shows enough to 'binge' them, so it's saying something.
Underseer said:
Jessica Jones, Season 2
9/10

Far and away my favorite of the Marvel-Netflix shows. It's very light on the action and heavy on character and a little bit of psychodrama with some film noir thrown in. If not for her tendency to break into places using her superstrength, you would barely know this was a superhero story at all.

Season 1 focused strongly on women's issues and I loved it for that, but this season mostly just explored Jessica's character, the side characters, and what everyone has been up to. And I loved it.

The showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has stated that she screwed up Dexter by healing the main character (the show got boring after that), and she has vowed the same thing won't happen to Jessica Jones. She has been true to her word. She does have a character arc and does become less flawed in some ways, but she's still surly, bitter, screwed up, drinks too much, and surrounded by other people just as screwed up in their own ways as her.


She ends the season and it looks like she's actually forming a decent, loving relationship with a decent guy and his kid, but in the process of getting there, she drove away and alienated every single other person who mattered to her, including her adopted sister/best friend Trish.

By the way, for those of you curious, Trish did indeed end up with unspecified superpowers teased at the very very end of the season. She seems to have different superpowers, but they weren't too specific about it, and she did sort of "die" in the process of getting her powers, although that was from flatlining after a scientific procedure instead of the wacky death and resurrection from the comic books. No doubt she will become Hellcat during Luke Cage season 2 or Jessica Jones season 3.



Oh, one other difference from season 1. In season 1, Trish had her life much more together than Jessica. In this one, Trish is just as screwed up as Jessica. At times that's touching, at others horrifying.
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Goodchild said:
Underseer said:
Two episodes into Krypton. It's more interesting than I was expecting.
Click to expand...

We're about to start watching that, can you say any more about it? The trailers have seemed pretty decent, but I'm worried it'll be a shoddy SyFy production. They haven't done much truly great since BSG.
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It's better than the usual SyFy offerings.

I thought it would be boring because we know how it all turns out. Brainiac will survive and still be a threat to the universe. The lovely Ms. Zod will survive as one of her descendants will become a villain. Superman's grandfather will survive as he doesn't even have a son yet. Oh yeah, and Krpton will be destroyed. So there's that.

Still, Kryptonian society and politics are far from ideal, which leaves plenty of room for conflict, some of which comments on problems in the real world, including some pretty harsh criticism of religion, social stratification, and the police state.

The production values are decent, and I cared about the characters even though I know they're all going to die, and I'm genuinely interested in seeing how this all plays out.
 
Playball40 said:
I'm with you. I binged Season 2 and really enjoyed it. I don't usually enjoy shows enough to 'binge' them, so it's saying something.
Underseer said:
Jessica Jones, Season 2
9/10

Far and away my favorite of the Marvel-Netflix shows. It's very light on the action and heavy on character and a little bit of psychodrama with some film noir thrown in. If not for her tendency to break into places using her superstrength, you would barely know this was a superhero story at all.

Season 1 focused strongly on women's issues and I loved it for that, but this season mostly just explored Jessica's character, the side characters, and what everyone has been up to. And I loved it.

The showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has stated that she screwed up Dexter by healing the main character (the show got boring after that), and she has vowed the same thing won't happen to Jessica Jones. She has been true to her word. She does have a character arc and does become less flawed in some ways, but she's still surly, bitter, screwed up, drinks too much, and surrounded by other people just as screwed up in their own ways as her.


She ends the season and it looks like she's actually forming a decent, loving relationship with a decent guy and his kid, but in the process of getting there, she drove away and alienated every single other person who mattered to her, including her adopted sister/best friend Trish.

By the way, for those of you curious, Trish did indeed end up with unspecified superpowers teased at the very very end of the season. She seems to have different superpowers, but they weren't too specific about it, and she did sort of "die" in the process of getting her powers, although that was from flatlining after a scientific procedure instead of the wacky death and resurrection from the comic books. No doubt she will become Hellcat during Luke Cage season 2 or Jessica Jones season 3.



Oh, one other difference from season 1. In season 1, Trish had her life much more together than Jessica. In this one, Trish is just as screwed up as Jessica. At times that's touching, at others horrifying.
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Someone said that season one is about what men do to women in a sexist society, while season two is about what women do to women in a sexist society.
 
Get me Roger Stone 6.5/10

I'm not a big fan of politically orientated documentaries. Firstly, most of them are confrontational "this is what you should be pissed off about" polemics. Even if I agree with the docco 100%, my first impulse will be to tell the film to fuck off, I can form my own conclusions. Prior to watching the film I knew very little about Roger Stone so I was pleased with how his career(?) was described. That they were able to approach and interview Stone, supporters of Stone and critics of him on a more or less equal footing is also a testament to the integrity of this film. The most entertaining part of the film was probably the most unintentional; and that was all the parts involving Paul Manafort. My god how much difference does a year make!
 
Jesus Christ Superstar on TV over Easter, live. Great production.

Judas stole the show IMO. He got the loudest applause.
 
Legion
Season 2, Episode 1
7.5/10

The pace is much slower. It's less frenetic and chaotic/disjointed, so it feels more like one of those insufferably abstract art films. It's not as good as season 1, but I still have no fucking idea what's going on, so I'm still hooked.


Division 3 and the mutants of Summerland now have a better idea of who or what the Shadow King is, so they've joined forces. They're terrified enough of him that they have gone to some pretty extreme/desperate measures to try and protect themselves from him.

Although no information is trustworthy, it seems this version of the Shadow King is only a couple of hundred years old and still has a physical body in the real world somewhere. He and Division 3/Summerland are now in a race to find his original body. David was contacted by someone claiming to be Syd from the future, who instructed him to help Farouk/Shadow King. That could have been the Shadow King himself trying to manipulate David, of course.

Oliver is still under he control of the Shadow King. Division 3/Summerland wants to kill Oliver because they think it's too risky to leave him alive. David still wants to save Oliver.



Oh, and there was a dance number that made no sense. That's a plus. :)
 
Startup (seasons 1 & 2)
8/10

Silicon Valley without the humor, and with more sex and violence. It's a drama about a group of unlikely outcasts starting up a cryptocurrency company but getting screwed over by various other criminal organizations on the way. I wish it would have had more "technobabble" and focused a bit more on the intricacies of financial crime and currencies, but even now it's a solid piece of art. Starring Martin Freeman, Edi Gathegi and Ron Perlman (starting from season 2), who are all doing an excellent job and while the plot is a bit weak (in particular Freeman's FBI agent doesn't really connect to the rest of the gang that well) at times, it succeeds in telling a decent story without spiraling into total ridiculousness. But it's been renewed for season 3 so I guess there is still time.

"But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Who knows?"
 
The Terror.

I've only watched the first two episodes. I loved the book its based on, and I like stories about ships at sea in general.



But so far, the story hasn't grabbed me yet. In the book, we knew the crew was facing two problems: they're locked in ice with dwindling food supplies, and something big and mean is hunting them, and we knew about those two problems by the end of the first chapter, or even reading the jacket blurb. But in this show, only the first problem is apparent. There's only hints about something out there, and it's a low-level nuisance, really. But the scenes are filmed with such heavy atmosphere and moody music that I keep expecting the worst. The camera will focus on some block of ice for a long time, leading me to think that the monster is going to burst out any second now, or even just pass by menacingly. Then the scene changes and nothing appears to be wrong.


Meanwhile, there's other elements making this a ghost story, that I don't recall from the book. A dying man sees an aged Inuit that no one else can see, and he freaks out. A man diving underwater sees a floating body and freaks out. Only at the end does the monster make an appearance, which cuts an off-ship mission short, but the terror of it is overshadowed by other concerns ("Oops, we accidentally shot a native.")



Also, I truly wish I could watch this with subtitles.

I'll stick with it for the time being.
 
Krypton
Episdoe 3

The show got a lot more political, with metaphors for the elites that Republicans worship and the police brutality used to keep the elites in power.



Black Lightning
Episode 11

This show continues to be "as black as they want to be" (in the words of one of the actresses in an interview) to great effect. If only DC movies could do minority representation as well as this.
 
Barry 8/10

I only started watching this show because it is sandwiched in between Silicon Valley and Last Week Tonight on HBO, but I am kind of hooked now.

Bill Hader (of SNL fame) stars as Barry in this dark comedy about a hitman from the midwest who takes a contract in California, and gets mixed up with an acting class. He finds he enjoys the acting class, despite being not that good at it, and is determined to quit his criminal profession to take up acting. His handlers have different ideas, and comedy ensues. Only 3 episodes in, so my rating is provisional, but I am really enjoying the show. It isn't a laugh a minute kind of comedy, taking a darker route to the humor, but it has some genuinely funny moments. Anthony Carrigan (Victor Zsasz on Gotham) has a quirky role as the apparently gay right hand man of the crime boss who initially hires Barry. I say "apparently gay", as I don't think the show has made any overt statement that he is gay, but his style and mannerisms lead one to believe that he is, in fact, gay. It is a role that is much the same as his role on Gotham, but quite different at the same time. Henry Winkler plays the acting teacher, who seems like he is at a crossroads between being a once serious acting coach and currently just trying to make a buck by any means necessary, and he does a great job with that role.
 
Space Battleship Yamato

When I was a kid Starblazers (space battleship Yamato) was one of the first anime I ever saw. Back before it was even called anime. Big difference between basically Bugs Bunny and a serious sci-fi war drama, even with the alterations to water it down. It has always been one of my favorites.

Now I just watched the first 6 episodes of the recent remake, and it is perfect! They kept the original designs, music, and sound effects. Many scenes are direct from the original. But with modern animation techniques it looks so much better. What little that has changed has been for the better. Like there are at least 5 female characters instead of just one. A little more depth and detail. The only better job I’ve seen on a reboot is the new Voltron series
 
marc said:
Space Battleship Yamato

When I was a kid Starblazers (space battleship Yamato) was one of the first anime I ever saw. Back before it was even called anime. Big difference between basically Bugs Bunny and a serious sci-fi war drama, even with the alterations to water it down. It has always been one of my favorites.

Now I just watched the first 6 episodes of the recent remake, and it is perfect! They kept the original designs, music, and sound effects. Many scenes are direct from the original. But with modern animation techniques it looks so much better. What little that has changed has been for the better. Like there are at least 5 female characters instead of just one. A little more depth and detail. The only better job I’ve seen on a reboot is the new Voltron series
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You mean Space Battleship Yamato 2199 from 2012?
 
Underseer said:
You mean Space Battleship Yamato 2199 from 2012?
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Yes, I only just got a Funimation account and was able to watch it. Got most of my anime from Crunchyroll, and had been waiting for this series to come out on DVD for some time.
 
Defenders (First, only?, Season) - The Netflix series reluctantly team up to save New York from... I'm not certain what. Interaction of the characters was nice. My main complaint is the season ends, but I'm not certain if anything was actually resolved. There are way too many questions.

1) What happened to the super quiet Ninjas?
2) What was the actual threat to the city?
3) Black Sky makes with the rumbles implying unimaginable power, but in the end, just a fighter?
4) Of those alive near the end, did any of them actually die? I'm guessing none of them did, based on what they did and didn't show.

 
McMafia, 5/10; A BBC drama that follows a UK/Russian character whose family has ties to the Russian Mafia. The main character is a straight business man until the mutual fund he manages starts to go tits up. He touts for clients but nobody will touch him until he is offered and grudgingly accepts a money laundering scam. This puts him on a collision course for some serious trouble with the mafia from the old country. It's an ok series, lots of exotic locations, some action and lots of intrigue. The acting is fine but the style is a bit labored. One character says something, there is a meaningful pause, then someone responds. It becomes annoying after 30 minutes or so.
 
marc said:
Underseer said:
You mean Space Battleship Yamato 2199 from 2012?
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Yes, I only just got a Funimation account and was able to watch it. Got most of my anime from Crunchyroll, and had been waiting for this series to come out on DVD for some time.
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I actually watched it when it originally aired in Japan in the 1970s. I couldn't understand a word of it, but all the advertisements made it look so "grownup" and serious, so I watched it and imagined everyone was saying terribly impressive and important things.

When I moved back to my own country and saw Starblazers, I was horribly disappointed to find out what they were actually saying, so I decided that this is one of those childhood memories that are probably better off remaining memories, you know? Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm certainly not knocking you for that.

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Jimmy Higgins said:
Defenders (First, only?, Season) - The Netflix series reluctantly team up to save New York from... I'm not certain what. Interaction of the characters was nice. My main complaint is the season ends, but I'm not certain if anything was actually resolved. There are way too many questions.

1) What happened to the super quiet Ninjas?
2) What was the actual threat to the city?
3) Black Sky makes with the rumbles implying unimaginable power, but in the end, just a fighter?
4) Of those alive near the end, did any of them actually die? I'm guessing none of them did, based on what they did and didn't show.

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I enjoyed seeing more of the characters that I liked, but overall Defenders was disappointing.
 
Blindspot
3/10

Ridiculous police procedural with a conspiracy theory twist. The premise is that a girl (played by Jamie Alexander, "Sif from Thor 1-2") shows up in time square covered in tattoos that show hints to various crimes, and of course she ends up solving them with help of FBI. And she's predictably enough a martial arts and weapons expert, Jason Bourne style. What makes it ridiculous is that apparently she did this to herself and there is a secret "plan" that somehow required her to forget even her own name. I haven't yet gotten to the part where they reveal why the hell this makes any sense, but knowing the pacing of network police procedurals, it's going to take 3 to 4 seasons before they explain it. Until then it's just a very boring, predictable cop show with silly workplace drama. None of the actors really stand out, the plots are typical "oh no terrorists have a bomb" garbage and there is really no particular reason to keep watching.
 
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