Author Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen  (Read 1186179 times)

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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4800 on: April 10, 2022, 08:38:14 PM »
I've been watching a lot of stuff lately, but there is one series I want to talk about in particular since I know we have some Community fans here. I could have sworn I saw talk about it on these forums, but neither the site's search engine nor Google could find anything. I just finished watching the 1st Season of Mythic Quest, a 2020-ongoing comedy series by Charlie Day that is currently streaming on Apple TV. It's basically "What if Community Took Place in a Game Development Studio?".

And it's the funniest goddamn thing I've seen in years.

The show revolves around an eccentric cast of game developers running a World of WarCraft-esque MMO, with egos and problems of the day cropping up to cause total chaos such as infighting over the implementation of a new game mechanic; infighting over increased monetization in the game (spearheaded by Community veteran Danny Pudi as basically the show's heel); the game's servers getting hacked; Kotaku running a story claiming the game has a Nazi problem (in probably the funniest...and most accurate...episode of the show); etc.

What's interesting is that as funny as the show is, it can also flip on a dime at times to do some really dramatic and heart-touching moments, such as an entire episode about the birth and death of an indie studio that's largely separate from the main cast. There's also an amazing episode that takes place within the 2020 pandemic that just captures the feeling of that moment so fantastically.

My one grip with the show is that some characters just don't seem to have much to do, namely Ashley Birch as a disgruntled lesbian QA tester. Yes, the lesbian part is important. It's the beginning and end of her character, at least in Season 1 as she spends the entirety of it pining for another QA tester. I also really wanted to see the put-upon HR manager and obviously-on-the-verge-of-a-breakdown Community Manager characters a lot more than their handful of appearances.

If you have Apple TV (or can sail the high seas), I highly recommend this show. This is JUST the show for people like us. It understands gaming, the writing is utterly on-point, and the performances are great.

I need to get back to that show. I've watched some of it and really enjoyed it, but for whatever reason drifted away from it. There are just so many things to watch these days.
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Offline Adrock

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4801 on: May 15, 2022, 07:42:57 PM »
The Dragon Prince

I've been meaning to reply to broodwars' post for a couple months now. This show is so infuriating that I started and stopped multiple times, watched other shows etc.

The Dragon Prince has pockets of good writing. As a whole, it's bad. There are multiple instances where characters hop on a soapbox and get really preachy. Y'all stall so much in this show that these speeches could be multiple conversations or entire scenes where characters do more than talk at the audience.

Here are some plot points that were handled poorly:
  • Sarai disapproving of Viren and Harrow's plan to slay the Magma Titan then going along with it anyway was played off as loyalty, but it's a terrible lesson in a kid's show. She brought up so many good points then was like 🤷â€â™€ï¸
  • Kasef's threat was so stupid. After Ezran decided Katolis won't join the other kingdoms against Xadia, Kasef's plan was to *checks notes* sacrifice soldiers in an invasion of Katolis before going to war with Xadia anyway.
  • Ezran abdicating the throne was confusing to me. The writers glossed over a lot here. Ezran decreed that anyone who doesn't want to join the war doesn't have to then abdicated the throne. If Ezran knew Katolis was going to war anyway, he didn't have to abdicate the throne. I'm assuming it was part of the negotiation, but why? He's king. Tell them to deal with it.
  • The soldiers who decided not to join the war ended up joining the war anyway. What the **** was the point of any of this?
  • Ezran got to Storm Spire really easily.
  • Harrow's revenge was some of the worst character work I've ever seen. Y'all invaded a foreign land that humans are banished from, killed a mythical creature for your own benefit, then are big mad because Avizandum (Thunder) defended his own lands and killed your queen. "I do hate him!" I GUESS! Why was any of the royal family even there? Y'all are really not going to take any accountability for your actions. No wonder Xadia hates you mofos.
  • Why is Ezran flying that dragon?
  • Viren's slow walk toward Zym was for dramatic effect. I still can't give them this. The Dragon Prince earned so little that stuff like this simply infuriated me.
  • Callum got wings because of some hogwash about love then immediately knew how to fly. **** off. Also, Callum and Rayla knew each other for like a few weeks, maybe. Calling bullshit on being madly in love.
  • Amaya being gay for Janai. What in the Stockholm Syndrome was this ****?

I actually have problems with some of the representation here. Black king, sure. Except he was benched in the second episode, easily manipulated by Viren multiple times, and repeatedly made really poor decisions in flashbacks. As a king, he was largely incompetent so not a good look. Lesbian queens of Duren, sure. Killed off almost immediately. Rayla was largely raised by a gay couple, sure. Almost bury your gays again because Viren trapped one of them in a coin. Runaan is apparently still alive.

I really hate Jack De Sena's voice. This is a me problem.

I agree with most of broodwars' criticisms on the previous page so I'll only comment on a few things:

Dragon Prince, at its heart, is a road trip show, and yet it takes the characters until the THIRD season to actually GET anywhere. It's decompressed storytelling at its worst, usually driven by Idiot Plot, where the only reason the plot happens is because all the characters are Idiots and don't do the logical thing.
Yeah... that's apt. It's wild how little was actually accomplished in 27 episodes. Comparatively, Toph is officially introduced in Episode 26 of Avatar: The Last Airbender which is where the show really picks up. Before that, there were a couple episodes in Avatar's first season that felt like stalling. For the most part, the team kept moving and doing things so it never felt like they were stalling for long.

Quote
And to top it all off, the show's worldbuilding is absolute ****, which is inconceivable considering this was made by most of the talented people who worked on Avatar (with the untalented ones going to work on Korra)
  • For the most part, yeah. The Sunfire Elves and if I squint, Moonshadow Elves were the only ones that had any semblance of a distinct culture. Otherwise, they relied on brown skin tones, accents, and different clothes to give certain groups "culture."
  • Are you sure the untalented ones worked on Korra? The Legend of Korra is flawed but far more competent and coherent than The Dragon Prince. In roughly the same amount of episodes, the Korra team gave us Beginnings Part 1 and 2 while nothing in The Dragon Prince so far touches those highs.
Quote
I'm conflicted about the deaf aunt character. On the one hand, she's a cool character. I really like the way she takes charge & fights, and I'm a sucker for Paladin-type characters. On the other hand, her being a general in an army while deaf makes absolutely no sense, and the show never makes an attempt to address how a general who can't hear anything and is unable to quickly communicate with her troops would be an effective combat general.
Amaya was a point of contention for me too. She's a cool character on paper, but she doesn't work in practice. It’s as if the creators have no idea why Toph works and Amaya doesn't. Toph fit so well into Avatar: The Last Airbender's world. Of course, a blind person would be the world's greatest Earth Bender. Bending is how she sees. That's excellent world building. They relay so much information about Earth Bending by flipping the script and turning Toph's disability into a strength, by showing this.

If The Dragon Prince creators really wanted a deaf character to have a similar effect, it would have made more sense to tie Amaya to magic somehow. As a regular human, being an effective general is completely unearned.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2022, 10:17:35 PM by Adrock »

Online broodwars

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4802 on: May 15, 2022, 10:18:51 PM »
I hate to say this after all the gushing I did about Season 1, but Season 2 of Mythic Quest really kinda...sucks. I don't know if it's because the season was written and performed during the pandemic so people weren't really inclined to be funny, or if the showrunners just didn't know where to take the show from here but this season really didn't work.

I think the real key to the 1st season's success was Poppi's freak-outs. I love her actress. She has a natural gift for comedic timing, and yet season 2 gives her absolutely nothing to do and nobody to react to. The season also pretty much abandons the "behind the scenes of a popular MMO" thing to give us really half-baked drama.

The show was renewed for 2 more seasons, but if this show is going to continue I hope the writers actually bring their A game next time.

On a side note, I also recently finished the 2nd season of Pacific Rim: The Black, and it's fine...I guess. The 2nd season is really lacking in the giant robot fights, and the plot is extremely rushed. Considering the shitshow that most Netflix shows seem to be going into their final seasons, I suppose it's some small miracle that this show has an actual ending at all, rushed and hand-waivy as it is. The show's still easily the 2nd-best Pacific Rim content behind the original movie, but that's mostly because Uprising screwed so many things up.

Quote
Are you sure the untalented ones worked on Korra? The Legend of Korra is flawed but far more competent and coherent than The Dragon Prince. In roughly the same amount of episodes, the Korra team gave us Beginnings Part 1 and 2 while nothing in The Dragon Prince so far touches those highs.

Yeah, in retrospect you're probably right about that. I just don't feel as personally betrayed by Dragon Prince as I do about Korra. Korra is one of the most mean-spirited sequels I've ever seen. It's like the showrunners have an active hatred for Last Airbender and everything people loved about it, considering everyone except Katarra is dead; a miserable failure; hated by their own families; or some combination thereof.

Dragon Prince's writing flaws feel like incompetence. Korra's writing flaws feel like actual intended malice.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2022, 10:23:30 PM by broodwars »
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Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4803 on: July 10, 2022, 08:36:22 AM »
I just finished Severance on Apple TV+. Apologies if this has already been discussed here. This is one of my favorite seasons of TV of all time. It is up there with season 1 of Twin Peaks, Westworld, and Lost for me. It would be easy to compare this to the style of Charlie Kaufman and I think that is pretty fair, but he has never done a TV show so here you go. It is very dark and may mess with your head so be warned. Also there is self-harm, but the episode where this takes place has a special warning at the beginning. Just queue up something lighthearted to rinse off with after watching, like Ted Lasso. Now go get severed.

Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4804 on: January 13, 2023, 03:47:21 AM »
The OA

I'm really not sure how to explain this show without myself sounding crazy, but I got absolutely caught up in this wild tale of a show.

Psychological Sci Fi Thriller is probably the best way to drop some descriptors on there.
It has to do with the main character and her recollection of her supposed past and her supposed NDE or Near Death Experience, and why she was missing for 7 years, and left blind but can now see.
Most think she is crazy and needs help, some think she is fascinating and want to know more.

Full Disclosure.... this show was supposed to go 5 seasons according to the creator, but Netflix cut it short after 2 great seasons. and TBH. the ending of S2 teasing S3 looked like it was setting up another wild season full of who knows what. I do not regret getting invested, because it was a good ride, even if I don't get to see how it ultimately ends.

If you looking for a spoiler to tell you what is really going on in this show...  and I suggest you go in knowing no more than what was said above.....
**SPOILER**The closest comparison I can come up with is group Quantum Leap meets the Spiritual Matrix

Offline UncleBob

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4805 on: January 13, 2023, 07:20:22 AM »
Quote
Yeah, in retrospect you're probably right about that. I just don't feel as personally betrayed by Dragon Prince as I do about Korra. Korra is one of the most mean-spirited sequels I've ever seen. It's like the showrunners have an active hatred for Last Airbender and everything people loved about it, considering everyone except Katarra is dead; a miserable failure; hated by their own families; or some combination thereof.

What....?

It's 70 years later?  Of course most of the people from TLA are dead.  And, of course, Aang has to be dead.

Zuko seems highly successful and respected.  We know little about Sokka, but the show does show us a statue of him, indicating he did well.  Katara is obviously loved and doing great (until she dies as foretold in TLA - Again, 70 years later).  Toph... well, her story fits her character well.
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Offline Adrock

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4806 on: January 13, 2023, 10:33:06 AM »
Toph... well, her story fits her character well.
Does it? On the fence over whether Toph having the same general hairstyle and outfit for 70 years made sense, tbh. Toph isn’t exactly Lady Fancyfingers in ATLA, but did the TLoK writers think blind people don’t care about style and personal grooming? 0/10, would not recommend.

Offline UncleBob

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4807 on: January 13, 2023, 06:34:20 PM »
eh.  I can see not liking where Toph's character went, but it worked for me.

Blind people might care about style/grooming, but Toph just never seemed that into it.  Remember the episode where they show her feet?  And the episode where she gets dolled up, laughed at, then blows it all off?  Hell, I have the same hat I've been wearing for over twenty years.  I hear they've done some stuff in the comics to kinda bridge the gap between TLA and LOK for Toph, but I've not read them.  I do wonder if they ever touched upon her apparent crush on Sokka.  Between that and how her parents treated her, I could see that as an explanation for the walls she's built around her. 
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Offline Adrock

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4808 on: January 13, 2023, 06:50:16 PM »
I was joking. I was just trying to work in the Lady Fancyfingers reference. Toph was fine in TLoK though maybe more curmudgeonly than I thought her character would have ended up. I merely chalked it up to a-lot-can-happen-to-a-person-in-70-years. How many people are the same even five or 10 years ago?

It is kind of weird that she ended up wearing the same color scheme. Like did she specifically ask someone? Was it just a coincidence? These are important questions.*

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Offline Stratos

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4809 on: January 21, 2023, 10:27:40 PM »
I actually didn't like how they handled Toph. I always hate the "this is your battle young one" angle. It would have been a fitting parallel if she came back to support like how Bumi rejoined the military to help in the final battles of TLA. No reason she can't come back and help in some capacity.

In terms of newer shows, I'm not seeing any mention of Andor. Did I miss that conversation a few pages back? Its great. Some of the best Star Wars material in recent years I'd say. Can't wait to see where it goes.
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Offline nickmitch

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4810 on: August 01, 2023, 04:28:43 PM »
Does anyone watch TV anymore?

Just watched Severance, so I'm even later than the last post on Severance.

It was pretty good. There's enough meat on the bone to make me excited to see the second season (whenever that happens). The last two episodes did a lot of switching between a dark scene and a harsh white scene which nearly gave me a migraine. There's also a lot of inexplicable shakycam that annoyed me.

The mysteries of the show were pretty cool. But I ended up being more interested in the mystery of each character's background rather than what the big corporation is secretly up to.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4811 on: August 03, 2023, 04:39:00 AM »
Yes, I got around to Severance late January of this year after hearing so much high praise for the show last year. I quite enjoyed that. I was sort of taking it slow at first. Watching an episode once every two days or so but then around the time of the 5th episode I just wanted to get on to the next and went through the last batch of episodes in the last two days. Too bad since it seems like it will be a long wait for the second season now. For awhile in February, it really stayed in my mind as I wished I could see more of how it may play out but now so much has happened in life since then that I'd pretty much forgotten I'd seen it until you posted this which is wild to me since it's definitely some of the best TV I've seen this year along with Yellowjackets Season 1 and The Bear Season 1. I should check out Season 2 for both of those shows now that I think about it. Oh, and Kobra Kai. Watched all 5 seasons of that too.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4812 on: August 03, 2023, 04:40:30 AM »
Does anyone watch TV anymore?

No. TVMan is dead. You killed him. There is only YouTube man now.
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Offline Stratos

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4813 on: August 24, 2023, 05:06:27 PM »
I can't find the Star Wars show thread I thought we had so I'll post here. Ahsoka is pretty good so far. I view it as a sort of "last chance" for Star Wars for me personally. I haven't really been enjoying the newer shows other than occasional highlights, and despite the amazing performance of Andor everything else feels lacking. Mando started decent, went stronger, then dropped off the deep end. Boba Fett was a disappointing mess, and Kenobi and even bigger mess. So if Ahsoka doesn't pull me back in I'll be taking a back seat on future stuff besides Andor S2. Not a boycott or anything, just not making them a priority or worrying about spoilers.

I also view it as a sort of "last chance" for Ahsoka herself. A lot of people feel she should not have survived Order 66 or even Rebels. her fight with Vader in Rebels would have been a very poetic and tragic ending for her. I have been holding judgement because anyone can stick around so long as they make it worthwhile. Maul has a ridiculous survival but he became an amazing character so I've overlooked the survival because of this. He served a great purpose and had a very compelling arc.

Ahsoka has yet to actually DO anything of any real merit or substance since the duel she survived through miraculous means. This show is her chance to prove she deserved to stick around and do something more.

My only real complaint that is more than a nitpick (but not a deal breaker) is how yet another main character survives a stab wound to the chest with a very deadly laser sword. It seems to be a trope of the franchise at this point. Losing an arm or a leg like Anakin and Luke did I can understand. But a stab though a place where critical organs are just seems odd.

Aside from that my nitpicks are legacy character looking or acting differently than they did before. Sabine is just too angst-y, Ahsoka a bit too stoic, Hera just looks off. But that doesn't ruin things for me and I can just ignore it for the sake of an enjoyable story.
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Offline UncleBob

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4814 on: September 22, 2023, 09:21:00 PM »
So, like...

Infinity Train.

Go watch it.  Now.
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Offline nickmitch

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4815 on: September 23, 2023, 08:55:26 PM »
Does anyone watch TV anymore?

No. TVMan is dead. You killed him. There is only YouTube man now.

Crap. My bad. Maybe Streaming Man will pick up the slack.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4816 on: October 18, 2023, 08:29:03 PM »
This is for all the fans of The Haunting of Hill House....

you probably knew that was created, written and directed by Mike Flanagan. Someone I wasn't familiar with till recently even though I'd seen some of his previous works, such as Oculus, Doctor Sleep, Hush, and Ouija: Origins of Evil.

Well, I watched Haunting of Hill House on Netflix back when it came out and it was Excellent. The twist, the scares, the story, I just enjoyed all of it.

He followed that up with The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Club, the first of which I haven't really watched, and the latter was more YA aimed, so my daughter watched an like it, as she was also a fan of Hill House.

Well, The Fall of the House of Usher released about a week or so ago, and I decided to check that out. This too was a really good story where I really enjoyed almost all of what I watched, and would definitely recommend it to anyone that's fans of the genre of Horror and/or Mike Flanagan.

Since i enjoyed the above so much, I went back and tried to watch Midnight Mass, as I had tried to start it before, but it was quite dull start, and I had no idea what it was about or who it was by the first time I tried to watch it.
I just finished it about 20 minutes ago, and even though this gets a slow start, it's part of a worthy buildup to a story worth watching (imo).
I don't want to give anything away on this, as I think that was part of the shock value, figuring out what's going on and what the title has to do with it.

BUt i just wanted to come in here and add this to the list of Horror Content on Netflix that is certainly worth a watch and all by the same guy.

Haunting of Hill House
Midnight Mass
The Fall of the House of Usher

in that order, but they are all a great, and your order may be different.
I might now circle back on Bly Manor now that I finished the other ones, but I went into Bly expecting more of Hill House, and it wasn't the same.

Anyone else checked out these shows on Netflix?

Offline Stratos

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4817 on: October 26, 2023, 01:02:47 PM »
Wife and I watched Fall of House Usher. Was a very fascinating ride. Not the most "scary", more of an intense suspenseful mystery. We liked looking for the hints for each person's inevitable death.

We watched House Hill and House Bly before. Of them all Usher feels the most satisfying. Hill House the ending felt a bit too "happy" for a horror show unless you subscribe to the dark ending theory.

Bly felt a bit too drawn out, Usher seemed to get the ending good with answering all the questions, keeping the "not perfect happy ending" and knowing when to end things.

We'll check out Midnight Club since we missed that one. Despite my minor complaints with the various shows, they are all fun rides worth going through at least once.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4818 on: November 06, 2023, 01:39:11 AM »
New Netflix Anime

Blue Eyed Samurai
- just bonged this over the weekend, and really thought it was well done.
Animation was really good, and the story and characters I felt were also really well written.

there's a small twist that's revealed early on, but I honestly expected it almost immediately, but that only adds to what is happening, not takes away from it.

[minor spoiler related to minor twist]
There is however a really heavy feminist slant, as this is written by woman and contains lots of strong female characters, but I think overall it's really well done and not overly thrown in your face till the end.

The premise is about a blue eyed half breed Japanese kid who is bullied as a "monster" into becoming a samurai who is hell bent on getting revenge not necessarily on those that bullied, but on those that made the main the character a monster.

and to top it off, all the action in this is great. not a bad episode in the bunch.
definitely recommended for all the older anime and action fans, especially those looking for an animation style more reminiscent of Arcane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ1yQn17lbE
« Last Edit: November 11, 2023, 07:18:11 PM by BlackNMild2k1 »

Offline nickmitch

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4819 on: November 26, 2023, 05:13:42 PM »
I finally watched Secret Invasion recently. Can't say it was better than ok.

ICYMI, the show follows Nick Fury as he discovers there are more Skrulls on Earth than he originally bargained for. My issue with the series is that it de-mystifies Nick Fury in a way that makes him sad and uninteresting. It's like seeing how a magician does their tricks, and it's just some lazy sleight of hand.

Basically, Nick Fury has been able to know and do things he shouldn't because he's had a small army of Skrulls working for him the whole time. However, the Skrulls are starting to rebel in a ploy to take over Earth, turning Nick Fury's best weapon against him. Also, Fury has lost his mojo. Is the show about him finding his mojo? No. Is it about him making amends to the Skrulls who feel like he's wronged them? Also, no. You basically have to hang out with a less interesting version of the character without really much explanation for why he's lost his confidence. The blip just messed him up, and he ran away to live in space.

In the first episode you get a cheap major character death that only serves to introduce the stakes. I would've preferred they save killing of Maria Hill for something closer to the finale than the intro. Speaking of, the first two episodes are about an hour, and the last two are like 35 minutes. The steady decline in runtime felt weird.

Anyway, there are some cool parts to show. I don't know why he had to do a suit-up montage to get into his Shaft outfit, but it was cool. And the rest of the story is at least interesting, if not awkward at times.

6/10
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Offline oohhboy

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4820 on: November 27, 2023, 10:15:32 PM »
Checked when/what my last live TV show/series was. It was April and only 3 shows this year with nothing on the horizon this year. Ando, Mando, Avenue 5. Movie consumption isn't much better. Skipped Nolan, but fully intend to watch, as I was in the wrong country (dealing with 4 language streams is Not fun). How the mighty has fallen. Lots of great anime and games though.

Ando: A show we didn't need or asked for, but busted all expectations, justifying its existence and then some. Not because it's Star Wars, but because it's actually good. Would have been even stronger if we didn't know his ultimate fate, curse of the prequel.

Mando: Did not stick the landing. S3 falls apart hard as it throws away it's premise and lacking oh damn commentary like Herzog or Bill Burr. Felt unplanned, the reason we don't know, executive meddling, no expectation of S3, writers ran out of ideas, forgot what Mando is about. Doesn't matter, disappointing.

Avenue 5: Amazing show until the end. The entire cast is unique, simultaneously love to hate and loveable, which is quite the feat. What a shame, canned before it could reach a conclusion.

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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4821 on: November 28, 2023, 08:37:23 PM »
Question: What is the sequel to Loki? Quantum of something?

you mean Ant-Man: Quantumania?

since it's the next appearance of a version of Kang the Conquerer?

Offline Stratos

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4822 on: November 29, 2023, 08:44:19 PM »
Ando: A show we didn't need or asked for, but busted all expectations, justifying its existence and then some. Not because it's Star Wars, but because it's actually good. Would have been even stronger if we didn't know his ultimate fate, curse of the prequel.

Yeah I was floored by Andor. The end of the prison arc is one of two times I've felt a major positive emotion in SW for a long time. Its a shame the rest of SW couldn't be even half this good.

Mando: Did not stick the landing. S3 falls apart hard as it throws away it's premise and lacking oh damn commentary like Herzog or Bill Burr. Felt unplanned, the reason we don't know, executive meddling, no expectation of S3, writers ran out of ideas, forgot what Mando is about. Doesn't matter, disappointing.

Wife and I both did not enjoy S3. And we were fans of both previous seasons. We watched the "missing episodes" from Book of Boba Fett because after the Tuskens my wife wanted nothing to do with that show. I don't know if watching those back-to-back with S3 helped or made it worse. Both Grogu's arc, and pretty much everything involving Bo-Katan was not enjoyable. I'm still surprised that Disney opted to make Bo the leader/hero -- a literal terrorist that enabled Maul to take over Mandalore and lost the planet not once, not twice, but three times, with and without the Darksaber. It was like they were contractually obligated to include some things and hit some beats and the creatives were absolutely not all in on the direction.

Question: What is the sequel to Loki? Quantum of something?

Only halfway through Loki S2 and it really feels like its gotten the Agents of Shield treatment where its been quietly sidelined into not being relevant to the overarching story. Wife was not feeling it (as it has been for much of Phase 4/5 of the MCU outside exceptions like Guardians 3 and No Way Home).

If S2 takes place AFTER Quantumania, that just feels extra weak because of how Kang got defeated and trapped there. Maybe the ending will surprise me, but its been pretty predicable and basic so far. Also the whole "retro 50s Sci-Fi" aesthetic and halfhearted time traveling just doesn't feel that engaging. Felt like some weird episodes of Legends of Tomorrow, and not in a good way.

Maybe we were extra harsh on it because it has been so long since S1 and we forgot a lot of what happened, so we were scrambling to remember who was who from the side characters and how the universe worked. Did they have fake local money? Did they need to not mess with events too much? Who were those side agents that barely had screen time in S1 that now seemed overly important in S2? Just felt a little like it didn't get the memo from how things have been going in the greater MCU and should have come out much sooner after S1.
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Offline oohhboy

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4823 on: November 29, 2023, 11:10:52 PM »
Disney's output is wildly inconsistent. It's either excellent or dire. When it's terrible, you can't help but feel that some background drama or C-Suite MBA got its fingers into it. When it's good, whether they like Star Wars or whatever doesn't matter, you can see they actually like/pride their job on screen, not faking it on press panels (All of Star Trek).

I never watched the 'Extra' episodes of Mando, didn't get around to it and don't care enough. Bo-Katan wasn't the issue, it's a symptom. Mando had lost his agency and premise. A side character doing side quests, slice of life with guns. Something bigger caught him, and he couldn't get away. People constantly forcing the Dark Sabre on him is pretty funny meta symbolism, intentional or otherwise.

If they wanted him to engage in something bigger, it should have been his choice, his effort. The seasons long arc thread should have been playing keep away with Baby Yoda. Maybe once a season, the big bad shows up, big climax and they get away. Eventually he has to make a moral choice, does he keep his care free life, let a lot of completely unrelated to him people die/end their way of life (Don't always have to kill people) or finally end the threat(Doesn't have to be OUR big bad), with the friends he made along the way. No Mandalor, no dark troopers, just blowing up the big bad's base and erasing their existence from Imperial records. They could have made as many seasons as they wanted with that premise. But nah, everything has to be prestige TV, every episode with double-digit millions budget and plot lines.

---

So what is the timeline/watch order of Loki? I would like to see Kang resolved, but if Loki isn't involved, then what? This is a reason why I don't like Marvel/Disney, EVERYTHING has to be connected, important, minimum of one spin off and apocalyptic.
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Offline Stratos

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Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen
« Reply #4824 on: December 24, 2023, 01:24:59 AM »
Don't worry, I finished Loki S2. They just quietly solve the issues in the show and the end comments about it in a way that could let them quietly cut off the Kang plot completely or redo it differently.

The time agency exists to hunt down Kang variants. there is a mention of how a "616 adjacent realm" dealt with a serious risk of a Kang insurgence, and any others popping up in the timelines would be dealt with.

I liked the theory that Mobius was actually a Thor variant.
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