What is the last Television series you watched?

[Jay 37,370]

Oh ok. That would explain why I didn't recognize him then, lol!

 

A podcast I listened to referenced something about Dr Who with Fiona Shaw, so I assumed that was Eccleston.  They were clearly wrong!!

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Masters Of The Universe: Revolution

 

A follow up to 2021's Masters Of The Universe: Revelation, which was a follow up to the He-Man series from the 80's. That follow was not well recieved by fans of the original, but here's the thing: I wasn't familiar with that and I went into Revelation completely blind and I absolutely loved it.

Same goes for Revolution. Yes, it's very corny at times, especially some of the dialogue. Yes, every character is waaay overpowered. Yes, not everything makes sense and because it's only 5 25 minute episodes it at times is a bit rushed. But I just had so much fun with this. I binged it all and it kinda felt like a 2.5 hour animated action adventure film.

 

The voice work is still really strong. Some actors have been switched and at first it was a bit noticable, but that quickly went away. Mark Hamill, Lena Heady, Liam Cunningham, Meg Foster, Keith David, William Shatner & Chris Wood are all having a blast.

The animation is stunning, character design is great, the action is fantastic and it has an absolutely brilliant score by composer Bear McCreary and his team. He has composed a plethora of distinctive and fantastic themes for all the characters and uses them to the fullest extent. He uses the full orchestra plus he adds a rock element to the score which makes it all the more cool. I hope an album release is inbound, because this already is one of the best scores of the year (just like it's predecessor was in 2021).

 

So yeah, this is one of those projects which is far from perfect, but it's a guilty pleasure which I don't feel guilty about. Season 1 had 10 episodes cut in two parts, so  I really hope they make part 2 of this season.

 

[crocodile 8,017]

Got a voucher for 3+ months of Apple streaming service. I decided to watch the first episode of Severance, a series I knew nothing about beforehand. But the promo/poster intrigued me somehow. That was really good actually, and quite unique. I shall finish this one.

 

Karol

[Jay 37,370]

Also watch Shrinking while you have it!

 

And Masters of the Air starts today!

[Jay 37,370]

Beef 1x05 Such Inward Secret Creatures

 

Danny befriending George as "Zane" was such a funny scenario.  How does George not realize?  Wouldn't he have googled the contractor who pissed in his bathroom?  I wasn't sure how to interpret the scene where he admires George's artwork.  Was he being honest with his assessment?  I like how often Danny flip-flops on everything, wanting to rob George & Amy at one point then wanting to call it off.  That was crazy that Michael and Bobby go to rob it anyway, and run into Fumi with a gun!  I thought for sure she'd shoot one of them, and was sad that she fell (even though she was there to sell George's artwork without telling him).  Amy and Paul's sex scene was way more explicit than I would have expected, and it was crazy when he asked her for money, and then even crazier when he called her a bitch for not giving it to him, lol.

[Tallguy 3,401]

I'm watching Barry. I'm three episodes into Season 2.

 

The end of season 1 kind of through me for a loop. It's getting harder to root for Barry. But I kind of can't stop watching.

 

As advertised, Winkler is amazing. I love Stephen Root so much.

[Jay 37,370]

Beef 1x06 We Draw a Magic Circle

 

I love the way that Isaac weaseled hid way into things by getting a church exception for his ankle bracelet him showing Danny that all his money is stashed in rice cookers in the church was so dumb, and of course is part of the reason Danny turns him in at the end of the episode.  Naomi and Amy's showdown scene was really good and Amy is lucky to come out of everything unscathed thanks to Fumi. Danny turning Isaac in after Amy screws him out of their deal was pretty scummy, but you also hate Isaac anyway so its a bit conflicting.  That final basketball scene was interesting, since Edwin seems to be upset that Danny is with Esther or something?

[Jay 37,370]

Beef 1x07 I Am a Cage

 

Wow, I wasn't expecting to seen an "EIGHT MONTHS LATER" card on the screen!  Seems awfully fast for Danny to have bought that land AND built a house on it with Isaac's rice cooker money.  As soon as he mentioned he did the wiring himself, I knew that would pay off in some way, so the fire at the end of the episode is surely going to be have been caused by that (but I was very confused by the shots of something rustling in the bushes and the gate being left open.  Just red herrings?)

 

Amy and George seem to have been getting along well, especially with Mia and Paul out of the picture for all that time, but it's no surprise those relationships bubble back up to the surface.  Danny wanting to jerk off to Amy's ass picture was a bit of a contrived way to get him to figure out Kayla was her, but it had to happen eventually.  I loved the scene where that Edwin guy shows up and tries to say he wants a part of Danny's criminal activity, the way Danny played it all off was pretty good I thought.  Meanwhile Paul showing up to tell George about them which Amy sees on the doorbell footage was another nice story turn!

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

It's starting to get crazy!!!

[Jay 37,370]

Beef 1x08 The Drama of Original Choice

 

Wow those flashbacks to the childhoods of Amy and Danny were really interesting and shed a lot of light on their current states of mind.  I loved the way they were interlaced into the episode, along with the chronology change to further enhance the narrative.  The worst part out of all of them was Danny throwing away Paul's college applications; That explains SO much about both of them and their relationship with each other.  It was kind of crazy that Edwin showed up at the house fire; I was trying to figure out where Danny was until he showed up in the garage.  Of course the fire was Danny's faulty wiring... the guy is such a self sabotager, whether he means to or not.  Amy at least owned up to everything she's done to George, and seems to accept the inevitable outcome that he wants a divorce.  I love that she first reaction is to be allowed to see June, and he curtly tells her the lawyers will decide that... damn.  Danny is completely opposite, unwilling to own up to anything, and instead tries to plant evidence to incriminate Amy, which of course backfires and he's on the run again, though WHY did June hop into his truck instead of her dad's car!?

[Holko 9,529]

Rewatched and finished Netflix's Sex Education. Still consistently great fun filmmaking, acting and music use. S1 made me fall in love with the world and the characters all over again. S2 is a bit of a step down while still handling a lot of things really well. S3 is a bit of an unfocused mess. S4 is a horrific mishmash of things with tonal whiplash episodes, missing old characters replaced with paperthin new ones, repeated arcs, steps back for some characters, torture porn for others, insanely dragged out pettiness for others, randomly thrown in and wrapped up storylines for others, wonderful finales for others. Even in S3 the show really struggle dot keep its cast together and just had lots of parallel things running, but here it's really fragmented and disconnected, the Groff stuff feels like a spinoff special/miniseries that got edited into this season. Also it's a horrible final season, (makes sense having read that the writers were only told that it'd be the last one late into the process), but even if it wasn't, it'd be a weak setup for a turn in a worse direction. The theory still stands that in the past 5 years our species collectively lost the ability to write endings.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Percy Jackson And The Olympians

 

I've read the first book in this series many years ago, but somehow never saw the 2 films. So for me I went into this pretty fresh. As a whole I think this is a very strong adaptation of a very popular and beloved book series.

This series is not perfect. Some of the dialogue is a bit wonky and the middle episodes drag a bit and feel slightly unfocused. But overall this is really strong.

 

The best thing about the series is it's casting & performances, production and music. Every actor truly feels like the character and is perfectly cast. Walker Scobel especially is great as Percy and the chemistry between him and Leah Jeffries & Aryan Simhadri is perfect. The casting of the Gods is also spot on. Bigger name actors like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Toby Stephens and the late great Lance Reddick were absolutely fantastic. And how cool that one of Reddick's final roles is Zeus!

The production and visuals of the show are also very strong. I watched the making off after watching the finale and it was really fun to see how the series was made and how much work went into it.

 

My favorite moments were definitely the first 2 episodes, the Medusa sequence and the final 2 episodes. There were strong moments in the other episodes, but it did feel a bit like they weren't 100% sure what to do. And that's okay, it's a first season of something and some stuff won't work. So I really hope that they are able to continue the series to tell this story as best as they can. Because the moments here that are strong, are really strong and I can't wait to see more!
 

[GerateWohl 4,370]

2 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

Percy Jackson And The Olympians

 

I've read the first book in this series many years ago, but somehow never saw the 2 films. So for me I went into this pretty fresh. As a whole I think this is a very strong adaptation of a very popular and beloved book series.

This series is not perfect. Some of the dialogue is a bit wonky and the middle episodes drag a bit and feel slightly unfocused. But overall this is really strong.

 

The best thing about the series is it's casting & performances, production and music. Every actor truly feels like the character and is perfectly cast. Walker Scobel especially is great as Percy and the chemistry between him and Leah Jeffries & Aryan Simhadri is perfect. The casting of the Gods is also spot on. Bigger name actors like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Toby Stephens and the late great Lance Reddick were absolutely fantastic. And how cool that one of Reddick's final roles is Zeus!

The production and visuals of the show are also very strong. I watched the making off after watching the finale and it was really fun to see how the series was made and how much work went into it.

 

My favorite moments were definitely the first 2 episodes, the Medusa sequence and the final 2 episodes. There were strong moments in the other episodes, but it did feel a bit like they weren't 100% sure what to do. And that's okay, it's a first season of something and some stuff won't work. So I really hope that they are able to continue the series to tell this story as best as they can. Because the moments here that are strong, are really strong and I can't wait to see more!
 

As I said before, we can only hope, that the upcoming Harry Potter series comes close to this in quality as an adaptation of the books.

 

At first I had a hard time to get into the books. For a european this americanization of greek mythology is quite ridiculous. Even though we are used to a lot of that from films and such. But this is a whole other level.

But when you get over this, it's really fun.

[Edmilson 7,466]

Is Rick Riordan the Dan Brown of kids literature?

[Bespin 8,484]

True Detective. I've watched S1, S3, and yesterday I started S4.

 

Why no S2? Because I stopped it after 20 minutes. The reviews for that season were bad, and I understood why.

 

Each season is a new story with a new cast, and except for Season 2, they know how to captivate the audience from the beginning to the end.

 

I might revisit Season 2 at another time; it's just the kind of story, you know, where they show us too many characters in the first few minutes who initially have no connection to each other. So, obviously, it doesn't emotionally engage us, and there seems to be no narrative thread; it's just a succession of scenes that have no relation to each other. Sometimes, we feel like being led on like that, sometimes we feel like being emotionally touched, and then, this kind of story simply doesn't resonate with us.

 

However, the other 3 seasons emotionally hook us from the first few minutes. I would say the overall idea is to show us what a 'true detective' can be. And it seems there are several types of them. So, they evolve in various cases, often sordid ones, which appeal to our values; it's really gripping.

[Jay 37,370]

Yeah season 2 is pretty lame.  Vince Vaughn was miscast

[Bespin 8,484]

36 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yeah season 2 is pretty lame.  Vince Vaughn was miscast

 

It's not just the cast, it's the way the plot is introduced.

 

I'm more of an old-school person myself. I consider myself a child of television (I'll be turning 50 in a few days), and you can tell me any story, really. But not just any way. To grab my attention, all it takes is to take me by the hand. Come get me with music, atmosphere, a scene where I'll emotionally invest very quickly... no matter the subject. I feel like this is so lacking in new series and movies... often all it would take is an engaging intro scene to hook the audience... to set a mood... and that would be it.

 

What I ask of directors is, prove to me in 20 minutes that you're capable of telling me a story. Hook me.

[crocodile 8,017]

Finished the Severance today. Having had a bit of clash with work culture in the past year (which caused me a lot of energy and stress), I can say this series resonated so well. It's sort of what 2023 felt like to me (exaggerating slightly), being trapped in a world of jargon and corporate politics. And as much as I am intrigued by the world as portrayed here, I do not necessarily see much need for a continuation. Sure, you can answer the questions and expand upon the world, but it feels to me the series already made its point successfully enough. I feel the questions it raised are more interesting than any potential answers. I might be wrong though.

 

Karol

[Jay 37,370]

Oh man, I can't WAIT to see what happens next

[crocodile 8,017]

Well, I will tune in anyway.

 

Karol

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

9 hours ago, Bespin said:

True Detective. I've watched S1, S3, and yesterday I started S4.

 

Why no S2? Because I stopped it after 20 minutes. The reviews for that season were bad, and I understood why.

 

I'm currently in the middle of S2 (first time seeing it), and I like it. Although I find it very confusing - I'm generally not good with names and faces, so I struggle to keep up with the plot. But I like the cast and the atmosphere - in fact, the latter reminds me of Twin Peaks (which the first season didn't, although apparently many see that differently) - and not just because of this moment:

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

Finished S2, and I really liked it. It's slow, and it's convoluted, and it's grim, but consistently so. Good cast, good cinematography, good music too when it's more than just atmospheric backdrop. I'm curious, how is Vince Vaughn considered to be miscast? I'm familiar with his name, but watching this I realised I was totally familiar with the actor (apparently I've seen him in Into the Wild, The Lost World, and Rudy, but I don't recall him from there). 

[tee_oh 20]

On 26/1/2024 at 3:45 PM, crocodile said:

Got a voucher for 3+ months of Apple streaming service. I decided to watch the first episode of Severance, a series I knew nothing about beforehand. But the promo/poster intrigued me somehow. That was really good actually, and quite unique. I shall finish this one.

 

Karol

Exactly what I did! and I ended up loving that show. 

 

Also to your point about not needing a continuation... I was about 3/4ths into the season and REALLY hoping it just ended up being a limited series, which I think could have been so perfect. Still excited for a season 2 and don't have any reason to resubscribe to apple until that or Pachinko season 2 comes out.

[Jay 37,370]

Beef 1x09 The Great Fabricator

 

Wow, that was cuckoo bananas! Isaac was a great choice as the kind of "final villain" and his turn from dangerous annoyance for Danny to straight up kidnapper, hostage-taker, willing to shoot his way out of a police surround actually kind of fit.  The different ways Jordan and Naomi were reacting to everything going on was kind of funny.  Jordan's money let her to be safe from all of this kind of stuff, until it didn't.  I was trying to figure out why a couple of episodes ago they randomly had Naomi and Jordan become a couple after the time jump when they had separate things going on before hand, but it kind of paid off here in that crazy (and overly violent for what this show is) door death.  Totally bonkers!

 

I was impressed with Danny that he told Paul about how he's been sabotaging him his whole life (including the college applications) and that he should get away from him, and liked how they left it ambiguous what happened after he jumped down the other side of the wall.  Danny finding a way out of yet another crazy situation was kinda funny (the way he plopped down out of that drain or whatever), and I loved that Amy seems him and they get into another car chase, lol.  At least the way they slowly slid down the cliff doesn't look like they'll be too injured...

[Jay 37,370]

Beef 1x10 Figures of Light

 

This was a good episode, and a nice ending to the series.  The extended stay in the desert (surely very close to the highway the entire time, lol) that makes up the majority of the episode was surprisingly all very good.  These two people finally got to lay everything out and be honest with each other, aided by drugs of course, lol.  I was glad that they avoided a lot of the cliched ways that shows or movies show people on drugs (the slow motion, wavy imagery, etc) and instead found new ways.  Like when they were talking to each other, but then one of them was revealed to be returning from being away.  Or the extended scenes where they each talked as the other person, like they had become that familiar with the other person's life.

 

These two characters had a lot in common, and a lot of explanations for everything they've done that the other person had no idea about, they really came to quite an understanding of each other. I also liked that the episode largely focused on the both of them and the fates of various side characters (George, Naomi, Paul) are largely left open-ended.  It was a shocker that the brief moment they had cell reception led to George being able to find them and shoot Danny, but then that hospital ending was nicely done, with the arm embracing her just before credits.

 

Awesome use of The Smashing Pumpkins' Mayonaise at the end, too.  The whole season killed it with awesome 90s alt-rock tracks!

 

I hope they don't make a second season and leave this show as a one-off!

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

9 minutes ago, Jay said:

I hope they don't make a second season and leave this show as a one-off!

 

It might become an anthology

 

[A24 4,345]

Wouldn't mind a new season with different story and actors. 

[Jay 37,370]

Right exactly, I'd be down for the same creative team to make a new season with all new characters, but I like the open-ended nature of how this story ended and I think it'd be a bummer to ruin that with a continuation that makes then no longer open-ended

[Jay 37,370]

Curb Your Enthusiasm 12x01 Atlanta

That was pretty good.  I find that the season premieres of this show are never among the best episodes, they are always more about setting up the general tone/feel/circumstances of the season, kind of establishing a new baseline.  I had completely forgotten about the whole Young Larry / Maria Sofia stuff so it was kind of jarring to start with direct references to all that that I had to struggle to recall.  I had thought the whole point was that she was a terrible actor, so it was kind of weird that now she's a big star?  Is this some kind of commentary on modern television or something?  I also have no recollection of why Tracey Ullman's character is living with Larry and he can't kick her out?

 

But regardless, the episode was funny!  It was nice to see Auntie Rae again, and Larry was funny wearing her glasses.  The altercation with the maid was funny, because Larry truly did nothing wrong and got shit for it anyway, lol.  Larry not being a cordial guest at a party, then kind of understanding why, but talking his way into getting paid anyway, then blowing it with a call back to the butt dialing thing was all pretty funny.  The ending was super abrupdt; I didn't think we were already at the end of the episode when he was giving Auntie Rae water, but the mug shot finale was pretty damn funny, lol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

On 31/1/2024 at 6:32 PM, Marian Schedenig said:

I'm currently in the middle of S2 (first time seeing it), and I like it. Although I find it very confusing - I'm generally not good with names and faces, so I struggle to keep up with the plot. But I like the cast and the atmosphere - in fact, the latter reminds me of Twin Peaks (which the first season didn't, although apparently many see that differently) - and not just because of this moment:

Agreed with all your points. Season 2 has its faults, but I think it starts strong and ends strong. The plot is convoluted, and my only wish was that they cut out the Taylor Kitsch character and subplot. Vince Vaughn is the highlight alongside Colin Farrell, for me. People claim he’s miscast because he’s famous for his raunchy comedies, but I thought he gave a great performance here.

 

I absolutely adore the Episode 2 dream sequence and still rewatch it every now and then. It’s a straight Lynch homage, and hearing that from people, alongside the bowling alley scene from Fargo Season 3, is what convinced me to give Twin Peaks another chance years ago. Now it’s one of my favorites. 
 

Now, True Detective S3 is another story. I struggled to get through that season a lot. Thought it was terrible. 

[Jay 37,370]

Koray's back?

[crocodile 8,017]

Watched all the episodes of Euphoria this week. It's not perfect but it certainly makes an impression. I love the dream-like editing and visual style. And the cast is really good. I was surprised to learn they are making more as it felt like an ending. 

 

I also quite liked the use of music, both original and old. It certainly added to the phantasmagorical vobe of the series. I loved they used an extensive quote from Williams' The Fury. I was thinking earlier the actress playing Cassie looked like someone from an old De Palma movie.

 

Some of it felt bit annoying and pretentious but, on the whole, I was with it.

 

Karol

[Jay 37,370]

Curb Your Enthusiasm 12x02 The Lawn Jockey

 

LOL Funny stuff all around.  Jeff's hair dye being teased in episode 1 then paid off here was brilliant.  Too bad they spelled out the Guilliani reference instead of knowing we'd get it.  The lawyer reminding Larry of Mocha Joe (and being played by the same actor) was sooo funny.  Love that guy.  The present hunt for Suzy was funny, though I don't get the point of the lactose intolerant guy getting arrested for wearing the jacket Larry bought him.  Something that will pay off next week?

[A24 4,345]

Mad Men ... all seven seasons. 

 

[crocodile 8,017]

4 hours ago, A24 said:

Mad Men ... all seven seasons. 

 

I stopped somewhere early on in season 4. Is it worth revisiting?

 

Watched the first episode of Lovecraft Country. The premise is intriguing but I am not sure if it can sustain interest for very long.

 

Karol

[Tallguy 3,401]

We finally finished Only Murders in the Building season 2 and we're working our way through season 3.

 

And I'm doing a 30th anniversary re-watch every week of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation, leading up to the series finale of TNG.

[A24 4,345]

34 minutes ago, crocodile said:

I stopped somewhere early on in season 4. Is it worth revisiting?

 

It absolutely is. I was even surprised how 99% was like new to me. I actually felt sad after I watched the final episode. With its perfect blend of social drama and humor, Mad Men is in my Top 5 best series of all time.

[Mr. Who 919]

4 minutes ago, A24 said:

 

It absolutely is. I was even surprised how 99% was like new to me. I actually felt sad after I watched the final episode. With its perfect blend of social drama and humor, Mad Men is in my Top 5 best series of all time.

Mad Men is a masterpiece on par with Sopranos, Breaking Bad and GOT!

[A24 4,345]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

Mad Men is a masterpiece on par with Sopranos, Breaking Bad and GOT!

 

And The Wire, Deadwood and I, Claudius.

[Mr. Who 919]

6 minutes ago, A24 said:

 

And The Wire, Deadwood and I, Claudius.

I still need to watch the Wire! Have heard great things about it.

[A24 4,345]

The original series are in 4:3 but a 16:9 version has been made available. I might rewatch the series in 16:9. 

[Edmilson 7,466]

2 hours ago, Mr. Who said:

Mad Men is a masterpiece on par with Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul!

Fixed.

 

Sorry, but the last few seasons of GOT are enough to exclude it from "masterpiece" status.

[Jay 37,370]

Someone unironically put Game of Thrones in a TV masterpieces list? Wow!

[A24 4,345]

The first 4 seasons were pretty great though.

[Bespin 8,484]

19 minutes ago, A24 said:

The first 4 seasons were pretty great though.

 

Thanks!

[A24 4,345]

2 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

Thanks!

 

 

No, not those Four Seasons! I'm talking about ...

 

 

[Mr. Who 919]

I think GOT and Sopranos and BB are great shows, if someone doesn’t, then that’s of course completely fine! The revisionism regarding GOT as a show is pretty amusing though but of course to each his own.

[Jay 37,370]

GOT was in masterpiece territory after its first 4 seasons, and after seasons 5 and 6 was in trouble, but COULD have turned it around to be the masterpiece those first 4 seasons earned.  But then B&W followed to dollar instead of the story and ruined everything with those final 2 seasons. 

Luckily season 1 of House of the Dragon was stupidly good and the overall franchise is back on track (IMO)

[Mr. Who 919]

They also turned down loads of free money for being listed as executive producers on all GOT spinoffs like HOTD. But like I said, that’s absolutely a valid opinion to have. However, it doesn’t change my mind about it being a masterful show. 

[Bespin 8,484]

Personally, as an old TV series watcher who watched almost every episode of the 92 seasons of DALLAS back in the 80s... Well, some seasons were good, and some seasons were SOOOO BAD, one in particular, that in the next season they 'ERASED' it, saying 'Finally, the last season was a nightmare by one of the main characters, it never happened haha!'... I tend to be more forgiving when a series relies on a hastily scribbled script thrown together at the last minute before shooting, hehe.

 

But I agree, Game of Thrones began with so much promise... and yet, some plots were wrapped up too quickly and hastily in the final seasons.