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

[Jimmy Higgins]

Luke Cage (into Season Two) - Liking this a bunch, about one third into the season. Luke's story stays local and seems to do well with bringing up the moral conflicts his character has to deal with and the limits that exist on what he can and can't do.

Ironfist (Season Two) - I know season one was attacked by reviewers. I seemed to enjoy it more than they did. I've only watched the first episode, but I seem to find it funny that the roles have changed, where Danny Rand has direction and everyone else are just so whiny. Oh... and Colleen just makes watching anything a wonderful experience.

Show

And will someone explain what happened to that mystical place he came from, unless it spoils things. It disappeared, but I don't recall it ever being explained what exactly happened.

Sens8 (Season One) - Really liked it. The first season started slow, worked its way into things... much like Babylon 5 did. And the show is set to commence. Sadly, this show is to end quickly because it wasn't given enough time. Granted, there are some questions regarding how people become involved without looking completely odd where they actually are. 3 of 4

And speaking of Babylon 5, it is on Amazon Prime at the moment.

 

[marc]

Luke Cage (into Season Two) - Liking this a bunch,

Luke Cage is my second favorite Netflix Marvel series. Only a couple episodes into this season, but enjoying it.

Ironfist (Season Two) - I know season one was attacked by reviewers. I seemed to enjoy it more than they did.

I was one of those complainers. Danny was very whiny and very undisciplined for a martial arts master. Wasn't much better in Defenders. Always telling people "I am the Iron Fist", when there is maybe a dozen people in the world that would mean anything to. I do agree Colleen was the best part of the show. Heard they shaped him up for the second season, looking forward to that.

Show

And will someone explain what happened to that mystical place he came from, unless it spoils things. It disappeared, but I don't recall it ever being explained what exactly happened.

The city of K'un-Lun exists in another dimension. It is one of seven celestial cities, each of which only connect to Earth for a limited time, then is cut off for years. I'm not sure if they explained that in the series, maybe Danny doesn't even know it. He will have to wait a while to see if he really screwed over the city by leaving.

 

[prideandfall]

iron fist season 2: 2/10

for context i found the first season boring and tedious, and found the second season to be equally so.
the only thing of merit either of these seasons have whatsoever is the excuse for a gratuitous amount of "fisting" jokes i made to my TV companion over the course of 10 hours, and on that level at least i'd say season 2 actually quite surpasses season 1.

i can't even conceive of how anyone could just sit down and watch this show... i only managed it by watching it out of the corner of my eye while playing WoW and was raiding for 3 hours of it, and i don't feel like i missed anything that mattered in any way or was even vaguely interesting.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

iron fist season 2: 2/10

for context i found the first season boring and tedious, and found the second season to be equally so.
the only thing of merit either of these seasons have whatsoever is the excuse for a gratuitous amount of "fisting" jokes i made to my TV companion over the course of 10 hours, and on that level at least i'd say season 2 actually quite surpasses season 1.

i can't even conceive of how anyone could just sit down and watch this show... i only managed it by watching it out of the corner of my eye while playing WoW and was raiding for 3 hours of it, and i don't feel like i missed anything that mattered in any way or was even vaguely interesting.

Racist!

Sorry... had to do it. Well... I guess I didn't, but whatevs.

I get it, Rand was a whine bucket (not certain if that continues in Season 2). But what I kind of liked was that despite being the hero, his self doubt was his greatest weakness of sorts (well that and his unending gullibility), so at least it changes it up. But certainly in the start of Defenders, you have the three great super heroes and then Eeyore... I mean Ironfist.

 

[prideandfall]

I get it, Rand was a whine bucket (not certain if that continues in Season 2). But what I kind of liked was that despite being the hero, his self doubt was his greatest weakness of sorts (well that and his unending gullibility)

i think that ultimately my biggest issue is that once you get past his whining, self-doubt, and gullibility you have a character who's both petulant as well as self-righteous while simultaneously being completely inept.
they've written him to be no more than "mid-level henchman" skilled at combat, and then also never does any interesting iron-fisting - it's never used to compliment or enhance his meager fighting ability, it's written to only be used as a one-off super move he does when his power gauge is filled from landing enough unblocked hits.
because they don't explain kun lun, all the Legend Continues mythology is disconnected from whatever is actually going on in the show, even though it's the primary narrative motivation for everything he does.

also, in JJ and punisher and DD i feel like you often have damaged people making bad decisions because they're broken and don't know how to be any better, and then dealing with the consequences of those decisions and trying to grow from it.
in IF it feels more like a bunch of people being fucking retards for no reason and then forgetting everything about it 5 minutes later.

 

[prideandfall]

the good place seasons 1 and 2: all the numbers. just all of them. everything out of all of them.

rewatched S1 and S2 after the wet fart that was iron fist s2, and was astonished at how insanely well this holds up on a second viewing.
all the characters are either fucking adorable or insanely likeable or both, and the premise is interesting and gives limitless capacity for gags on multiple levels, be they physical or intellectual or otherwise.
it's just a god damn delight to watch this show, one of the more pleasurable viewing experiences on television.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I get it, Rand was a whine bucket (not certain if that continues in Season 2). But what I kind of liked was that despite being the hero, his self doubt was his greatest weakness of sorts (well that and his unending gullibility)

i think that ultimately my biggest issue is that once you get past his whining, self-doubt, and gullibility you have a character who's both petulant as well as self-righteous while simultaneously being completely inept.
they've written him to be no more than "mid-level henchman" skilled at combat, and then also never does any interesting iron-fisting - it's never used to compliment or enhance his meager fighting ability, it's written to only be used as a one-off super move he does when his power gauge is filled from landing enough unblocked hits.
because they don't explain kun lun, all the Legend Continues mythology is disconnected from whatever is actually going on in the show, even though it's the primary narrative motivation for everything he does.

also, in JJ and punisher and DD i feel like you often have damaged people making bad decisions because they're broken and don't know how to be any better, and then dealing with the consequences of those decisions and trying to grow from it.
in IF it feels more like a bunch of people being fucking retards for no reason and then forgetting everything about it 5 minutes later.

I won't disagree with any of that, except Rand is dealing with guilt for leaving the place he was supposed to protect. Granted, he ultimately defeated the big bad (well... being a comic thing... no he probably didn't) so huzzah! But in the end, everyone seems to be stupid, except Colleen and Rachel when she makes an appearance.

The good guys and bad guys are just immature and dumb.

But in Ironfist's defense... Colleen!!!

 

[Underseer]

I get it, Rand was a whine bucket (not certain if that continues in Season 2). But what I kind of liked was that despite being the hero, his self doubt was his greatest weakness of sorts (well that and his unending gullibility)

i think that ultimately my biggest issue is that once you get past his whining, self-doubt, and gullibility you have a character who's both petulant as well as self-righteous while simultaneously being completely inept.
they've written him to be no more than "mid-level henchman" skilled at combat, and then also never does any interesting iron-fisting - it's never used to compliment or enhance his meager fighting ability, it's written to only be used as a one-off super move he does when his power gauge is filled from landing enough unblocked hits.
because they don't explain kun lun, all the Legend Continues mythology is disconnected from whatever is actually going on in the show, even though it's the primary narrative motivation for everything he does.

also, in JJ and punisher and DD i feel like you often have damaged people making bad decisions because they're broken and don't know how to be any better, and then dealing with the consequences of those decisions and trying to grow from it.
in IF it feels more like a bunch of people being fucking retards for no reason and then forgetting everything about it 5 minutes later.

I probably liked season 1 slightly more than most, but it was still the least of the Marvel Netflix shows.

Because Danny was confused about why he left Kun'lun, so was i. I didn't have any real emotional connection to Danny or Kun'lun. Honestly, Colleen and the Meechum siblings were more interesting in season 1.

I'm only 4 episodes into season 2, and while they did fix some of the narrative problems with season 1, I still wish they would just make Danny a side character in the Luke Cage show and give us a Daughters of the Dragon show instead of Iron Fist.

 

[Underseer]

Saint Seiyan: the Something Canvas
1/10
Available on Netflix

I had to stop watching part way through the 3rd episode. The only interesting part was trying to figure out if this show is dumber and more annoying than Dragonball Z.

A bunch of Athena-worshipping knights in 19th century Europe wear a hilarious anime parody of European armor while calling out the names of their Special Magic Attacks while using martial arts on the knights of Hades, who want to kill the whole world because ooga booga whatever.

 

[Underseer]

OK, I finally finished season 2 of Iron Fist.

It's a vast improvement over season 1, starting with the fact that his motivations made sense and I actually cared what happened to him. However, I still think it's the weakest of the Marvel-Netflix shows. It's obvious that they listened to fan criticisms on the Internet. Both Colleen and Misty had a more prominent part in the show, and it really felt like they were feeling out the possibility of a separate Daughters of the Dragon show, which I really, really hope they will do.

The ending had some surprising twists, which left things open for a lot of different changes in the show.

Show

Both Danny and Colleen now have the Iron Fist.

Remember when Danny promised to look after the city when Matt Murdock left? It seems Danny left Colleen to keep that promise in New York, while Danny and Ward ran off to Asia to learn what they could about the Iron Fist. Danny is already channeling his chi through twin pistols like the previous Iron Fist Orson Randall did.

The Iron Fist is white for Colleen, and she can channel her chi through her katana the same way Danny does through his pistols.

The ending definitely left open the possibility that Colleen and Misty will run off and do their own thing. Then again, maybe Misty will take that captain's chair, sit behind a desk all day, and stop being an action hero. Not very likely, but they left that open as a possibility.

I still hope they just make Danny a side character in Luke Cage and do the Heroes for Hire story, while the Luke Cage show gets replaced with Daughters of the Dragon.

Then again, they left open the possibility that[ent]hellip[/ent]

Show

Danny and Ward's "find yourself" quest through Asia could lead to a search for the magic book that supposedly explains all the Iron Fist powers and that only Iron Fists can read.

They also hinted at the big tournament between the cities of heaven, which means it's possible that Kun'lun isn't destroyed as Danny and Davos think, but that it simply is no longer connected to our world because Danny wasn't there to participate in the tournament between the cities of heaven.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Homeland Season 5 - Nearing the end of Season 5. I appreciated how they twisted the premise a little bit. I think their use of Carey's bipolar issue has become more of a plot device than trying to deal with it reasonably, but otherwise, enjoying it. 3.5 of 4

That said... this is Season 5... and the story line is as if it were released this year. Incredibly insightful plot about what we are generally dealing with right now. Kind of scary actually.

 

[Underseer]

The Dragon Prince
7/10



The big appeal of this show is that includes one or two screenwriters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I saw people on YouTube breathlessly comparing it to Avatar, and to be honest, I don't think the comparison is fair. Yet.

Season one has only 9 episodes, while Avatar had 20 episodes in the first season. There just wasn't enough time to develop the complexity and worldbuilding that made Avatar such a treat. The show could certainly become something on the level of Avatar, but it's way too early to tell.

For now it's similar in that there are no mustache-twirling bad guys who are simply bad for the sake of being bad. Everyone is operating under a set of rationalizations in which they believe they are working towards the greater good. In that, it is indeed similar to Avatar, but since there wasn't as much time to develop ideas, or to explore and develop characters and backstory, it feels a bit more like a kiddie show and less like an all-ages family affair like Avatar did.

It uses CGI with cell-shading, which some might find distracting. I wasn't too bothered by it.

Oh, and you will either love or hate the fact that the moon elves speak with Scottish accents. Personally, I laughed.

 

[Underseer]

Last Hope
3/10



Just another mecha anime featuring giant piloted robots punching giant monsters. Yawn. Why is there so much mecha among the anime on Netflix anyway? Ugh.

The one saving grace is that it features a lot of Chinese characters that don't have any of the usual weird stereotypes of Chinese people that I'm used to seeing in Japanese cartoons. In fact, I don't think I've seen those stupid stereotypes in years. I guess it's finally dawned on anime creators that China is a potential market and they better cut that shit out.

Anyway, it's mostly

• Giant robots using giant guns on giant monsters
• Giant robots using glowing giant blade weapons on giant monsters
• Giant robots punching giant monsters

In other words, it's largely indistinguishable from most mecha anime.

 

[Ford]

Just got done with season 1 of Sense8 on Netflix.

It took a few episodes to get up to speed, but it sucked me in.

I didn't quite realize what it was until just now. Remember that show "Heroes" on NBC? The one about very attractive mutants from across the globe who all at once discovered they had powers and that there was also a sinister government conspiracy afoot to "bag and tag" the mutants?


This is like that. Only smarter, with a much larger budget, and much better writing/acting.

 

[Jayjay]

OK, I finally finished season 2 of Iron Fist.

It's a vast improvement over season 1, starting with the fact that his motivations made sense and I actually cared what happened to him. However, I still think it's the weakest of the Marvel-Netflix shows. It's obvious that they listened to fan criticisms on the Internet. Both Colleen and Misty had a more prominent part in the show, and it really felt like they were feeling out the possibility of a separate Daughters of the Dragon show, which I really, really hope they will do.

The ending had some surprising twists, which left things open for a lot of different changes in the show.

Show

Both Danny and Colleen now have the Iron Fist.

Remember when Danny promised to look after the city when Matt Murdock left? It seems Danny left Colleen to keep that promise in New York, while Danny and Ward ran off to Asia to learn what they could about the Iron Fist. Danny is already channeling his chi through twin pistols like the previous Iron Fist Orson Randall did.

The Iron Fist is white for Colleen, and she can channel her chi through her katana the same way Danny does through his pistols.

The ending definitely left open the possibility that Colleen and Misty will run off and do their own thing. Then again, maybe Misty will take that captain's chair, sit behind a desk all day, and stop being an action hero. Not very likely, but they left that open as a possibility.

I still hope they just make Danny a side character in Luke Cage and do the Heroes for Hire story, while the Luke Cage show gets replaced with Daughters of the Dragon.

Then again, they left open the possibility that[ent]hellip[/ent]

Show

Danny and Ward's "find yourself" quest through Asia could lead to a search for the magic book that supposedly explains all the Iron Fist powers and that only Iron Fists can read.

They also hinted at the big tournament between the cities of heaven, which means it's possible that Kun'lun isn't destroyed as Danny and Davos think, but that it simply is no longer connected to our world because Danny wasn't there to participate in the tournament between the cities of heaven.

Eh. I liked season 1 more. Bigger budget, more varied fight scenes. Season 2 seems to be done with lower production values, which doesn't bode well for Daredevil season 3 either, if that's really the direction Netflix is taking its Marvel shows; milking them dry as long as they've got the Disney license.

Also in season 1 the most interesting character, Ward, is now reduced to struggling addict cliché and he doesn't seem to be progressing much with his relationship to his sister. There are also some completely unnecessary story elements that don't get followed up on, like Joy blackmailing a senator... for what? Her charity? Hmm. And in the end, I like that Danny and Ward go adventuring into the world, but why would Ward do it just after finding out that he's going to be a father? It just makes no sense. I think season 2 of Iron Fist shares the award for the worst Marvel Netflix seasons together with the Defenders.

Danny is still one of the most interesting characters and the comics come with lots of recent mythology that they could draw upon on, if given the right budget and the right writers. It's a wasted opportunity and that pisses me off more than just the overall low quality.

 

[prideandfall]

Maniac: meh / bleargh

okay so imagine somebody got high and watched The Lobster, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, about 1/6th of Brazil, Mr. Brooks, and Inception back-to-back.
then, they completely failed to understand the difference between "abstract" in a vacuum, and "metaphor" in terms of a visual medium.
then they made 9 hours worth of their misunderstanding.
it's not that it was *bad* necessarily, it was just a garbled mess within a genre that has such better examples of the form that it was a pitiable dreg compared to available alternatives.
oh, and the ending suuuuuuuuuuuucked. like, the studio version of the ending of Brazil sucked.

misc. observations:
it's odd to me that emma stone isn't really attractive in any way but her eyes are so buggy it's to the point where it's endearing.
the extent to which justin theroux is a "younger not-rob-lowe" was REALLY distracting to me. i kept screaming at the TV "why are you not rob lowe!?" whenever his character was on screen.
having said that, i think his character was the only enjoyable thing about this entire series.
jonah hill needs to get fat again. he and drew carey are just god damn creepy when they're skinny.

in ordinate amount of this review is quips and comments on people's appearance because there really isn't enough to the show to justify any exploration of the show itself.

 

[Opoponax]

Maniac: meh / bleargh

okay so imagine somebody got high and watched The Lobster, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, about 1/6th of Brazil, Mr. Brooks, and Inception back-to-back.
then, they completely failed to understand the difference between "abstract" in a vacuum, and "metaphor" in terms of a visual medium.
then they made 9 hours worth of their misunderstanding.
it's not that it was *bad* necessarily, it was just a garbled mess within a genre that has such better examples of the form that it was a pitiable dreg compared to available alternatives.
oh, and the ending suuuuuuuuuuuucked. like, the studio version of the ending of Brazil sucked.

misc. observations:
it's odd to me that emma stone isn't really attractive in any way but her eyes are so buggy it's to the point where it's endearing.
the extent to which justin theroux is a "younger not-rob-lowe" was REALLY distracting to me. i kept screaming at the TV "why are you not rob lowe!?" whenever his character was on screen.
having said that, i think his character was the only enjoyable thing about this entire series.
jonah hill needs to get fat again. he and drew carey are just god damn creepy when they're skinny.

in ordinate amount of this review is quips and comments on people's appearance because there really isn't enough to the show to justify any exploration of the show itself.

After reading your review, I totally have to watch this show.

Anyway:

Forever

It stars Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph, so I was expecting a weird comedy. At times it is that, but it's incidental to the rest of the show. This is more of an existential exploration of... well, it's hard to say. It's about death, relationships, running away, returning, regret, honesty, and dishonesty. IOW, it's not one thing and it's pretty offbeat at times, but not for the sake of being offbeat; rather, the lack of convention is used as an effective exploration tool.

I'm making this show sound less fun than it really is. But it is slow paced and it takes a couple episodes to get off the ground, and it's certainly not a pure comedy. But it's only 8 episodes at half an hour each, so if you do binge watch the entire thing, it'll only eat up 4 hours or so.

FWIW, I recommend it.

 

[Goodchild]

God Friended Me

We watched the first episode of this new show and enjoyed it well enough. I'd like to see more television that touches on ethics, religion and philosophy (like The Good Place) so gave this a go. My only real complaint is that they grounded his atheism in the death of his mother, playing into the "angry at God" stereotype of an atheist. I'm hopeful future episodes show that only as the spur that sent him into research which in turn lead him to atheism.

In just the first episode there was very little actual atheist argumentation presented while there was a good amount of theistic apologetics represented so we'll see how this goes. I do like, however, that they portrayed the main character as just a basically good person living his life.

 

[wally]

Young Sheldon. Sheldon's mother struggled with her faith when trying to write a sympathy card to a family who lost their 16 year old daughter in a car crash. She was still struggling when atheist Sheldon came to check on her on the porch toward the end of the program. He came up with there were 6 million people on earth and out of that many she was the perfect mother for him.

I thought the whole program was very well done and very touching even to an old atheist grandfather like me. I had tears down my face through most of it. How does anyone deal with the loss of a child with a belief in a god or not, it is tough!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

*edit nevermind... forgot what thread this was*