Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen

[Plugabugz]

Luke Cage

and can all these actors seriously train martial arts, boxing or whatever HARD in the off season? The fight scenes aren't terribad, but they are certainly lacking execution and excitement.
I feel like it would be a little more exciting if Luke Cage himself could seem even a little amused during a fight. There are much more interesting ways to take a bullet than just standing there... learn to play with your food a little son. damn.

This is a problem with a lot of shows. Outside of Arrow (except when they get sloppy and you see the stunt actors or how punches/moves never "connect"), Agents of Shield (specifically kevin tancharoen episodes) and Into The Badlands it seems that stuntwork is given no attention.

Once you see it, though, you cant unsee it either.
Though really, out of the Netflix shows:

• Luke's fight style is get out of my way
• Jessica's is annoyed
• Daredevil is fluid
• Iron Fist is... i'm not entirely sure - help?
• Punisher's is military brutality

They don't seem to want to mix that up.

[Shorty McNostril]

I would say there's a bit of trolling in Luke's fighting style too.  I never get tired of seeing his opponents being knocked out from a slap.

[Stratos]

I don't mind Luke's fighting style. Fits in with the "I really don't want to do this" mentality he has about the whole fighting/hero thing.


2 episodes in and it is slow, but I remember S1 also starting slow, and the show was always a bit more of a slow ride and I didn't mind it, felt it fit the content. But nothing tops the mid S1 scene where Mariah kills Cottonmouth. I freaked at that.


Agree that Mariah isn't that imposing anymore. Seems a bit more emotionally unstable and even vulnerable, and Shade's behavior regarding her and irrationally "defending her honor" just doesn't add up.


There is an odd disconnect in all of the Marvel TV content, and I agree that Feige needs to get control of the TV, or at least get someone on the TV helm who is in line with him and directly under him. I'm not sure Feige could balance both well enough without help, but give him an executive veto/vote in the process going forward.


Considering how Disney will pull content from Netflix in 2019, I wonder if there will be an impending reorg announcement related to this. Really bummed we aren't getting a Defenders S2 anytime soon. There wasn't enough of it the first time around.

[broodwars]

Haven't watched a new Gundam series in about a decade, not since Seed Destiny really soured me on the franchise & 00 wasn't looking particularly great.

However, playing a really terrible Gundam game lately (Gundam Vs.) did manage to get me in the mood to watch something from that series again, so I decided to try out Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans - Season 1.

Having finished the season, I'm really digging this one. Gundam is a franchise that relishes its tropes, and this one seems to be going out of its way to not hit as many of them as usual (and openly mock others). Honestly, with its focus on a lot of gritty tank & ship warfare and relatively little mobile suit combat, it actually gives me a very 8th MS Team-esque feel. The Gundams are relics from a 300-year old war, so they're few & far between.


The story surrounds a team of child soldiers who have been implanted with devices that allow them to interface with mecha through their spine & brain, without extensive training & knowledge. After getting screwed-over by their adult overlords, they stage a coup & basically end up starting their own private military organization. Their goal? To escort the leader of a local resistance movement from Mars to Earth to argue for Mars' independence.

The show follows this group's journey from Mars to Earth & beyond as they try to fight off pirates, the Earth military, and constant political machinations from both their allies & their enemies. In fact, I think what looks like the villain of season 2 is one of the best the series has ever done, perfectly puppet-mastering all the pieces on the board into moving himself into power without making it look like a last-second "gotcha" (which Seed Destiny was guilty of, IIRC).

There's a sense of sheer brutality to this show that really clicks with me. Beam weaponry doesn't exist, and resources are relatively scarce so battles often revolve around trickery & the use of several different groups of fighters (mobile suits, ships, footsoldiers, etc). The combat usually comes down to tanks blowing each other up while the mobile suits try to bash each other to death with glorified clubs & spears. Characters seem to die fairly regularly so far, something Gundam usually reserves for the end of the show.

Season 2 comes out on BluRay next month, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes. I hear the ultimate ending is outstanding.

[ThePerm]

I don't mind Luke's fighting style. Fits in with the "I really don't want to do this" mentality he has about the whole fighting/hero thing.


2 episodes in and it is slow, but I remember S1 also starting slow, and the show was always a bit more of a slow ride and I didn't mind it, felt it fit the content. But nothing tops the mid S1 scene where Mariah kills Cottonmouth. I freaked at that.


Agree that Mariah isn't that imposing anymore. Seems a bit more emotionally unstable and even vulnerable, and Shade's behavior regarding her and irrationally "defending her honor" just doesn't add up.


There is an odd disconnect in all of the Marvel TV content, and I agree that Feige needs to get control of the TV, or at least get someone on the TV helm who is in line with him and directly under him. I'm not sure Feige could balance both well enough without help, but give him an executive veto/vote in the process going forward.


Considering how Disney will pull content from Netflix in 2019, I wonder if there will be an impending reorg announcement related to this. Really bummed we aren't getting a Defenders S2 anytime soon. There wasn't enough of it the first time around.

This season is strange. I like Bushmaster a lot and he makes a good villain. It did not have the newness factor, and some stuff seemed more contrived. It was still really good. It was one of the top seasons of the Marvel shows, but not the best.

I also wonder what they're going to do with the Marvel content. It was supposed to be a Netflix exclusive, but it could just as well be cloned on the other services when Disney decides to do that. Also moving forward I wish they have more callouts to what is going on in the MCU besides the first alien incident. Maybe once the Fox deal is finalized we'll start to get a greater connectivity.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Anybody watching Cloak & Dagger?

It's actually pretty good, considering it's slowly building up. They've dropped 2 references to the Netflix Marvel so far the cop in New Orleans is friends with Misty Knight from Luke Cage. I think Misty may have made a passing mention to her in S2 of Luke Cage, but I can't remember right now. Misty was directly name dropped on last nights episode tho
They are having a Marvel TV panel today at SDCC, so it might be getting some second season news on stage. One of the people involved with the show have already come out and talked about how the last couple episodes ramp things up, and they got plans for big things in S2.

It's a good time to jump into this one and binge watch. only 2 episodes left I think. 10 eps in all for the 1st season.

[Shorty McNostril]

Yep.  I'm really enjoying it.  A bit of a slow start like most non Shield Marvel shows, but they're getting good now.  Really  enjoyed yesterday's episode.  We have finally seen Cloak, hopefully next week we see Dagger.  They had a really interesting way of fast tracking Tandy's skill with throwing her daggers.

So yeah, a great binging show.

[BranDonk Kong]

Who is America? S01E01 and S01E02 - the best show on TV/10
Holy ****, it's insane what he gets people to do. If this show doesn't end some political careers, then we're all fucked.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Who is America? S01E01 and S01E02 - the best show on TV/10
Holy ****, it's insane what he gets people to do. If this show doesn't end some political careers, then we're all fucked.

The guy that took upskirts while pretending to be asian, and then screamed the N word (with full r on the end), and then used his bare ass to disarm a armed "terrorist" was told to resign..... he refused.
I believe he will need to be voted out. (edit: nevermind, he resigned)

I'm really hoping Sasha Baren Cohen got 3 seasons worth of material to last all through 2020 with this nonsense.

[broodwars]

Gravity Falls released on BluRay today, so I thought I'd finally check the show out. Heard a lot about it, but never saw it before.

Watched the first 5 episodes so far, and I can't say I'm blown away but the show seems enjoyable enough. I'm intrigued enough by some of the teases they've dropped so far, and I dig the Twin Peaks-esque tone. It's a pity that Disney produced this show, though, as you can see the invisible hands of Disney pulling the production back from doing anything particularly dark (so far).

Shout Factory's BluRay transfer, though, is fantastic. So far on my big 1080p TV, I'm not seeing any noticeable compression artifacts & very little (if any) grain. Hell, I'm pretty sure the grain I have seen so far is intentional texture work. Coming off my recent Avatar: TLA BluRay rewatch, the show just looks astounding by comparison.

[broodwars]

Well, I've finished Gravity Falls and...eh, it was good, I guess. I don't see where all the hype is coming from. The first season is just so formulaic and so focused on the tedious would-be love lives of the 2 main characters, which I couldn't possibly give any less of a **** about. The second season strongly focuses the show on the core mystery & features much sharper writing (and the ending is fantastic), but for me it just can't make up for how long it took the show to get to an interesting point.

It was consistently pleasant, but that's about as much praise as I feel it deserves.

[Plugabugz]

I'm really liking Cloak and Dagger. The pace is slow but its well paced-slow rather than slow for no reason. The main actors have great chemistry together.

Luke Cage meanwhile.... did anybody mention how bad the jamaican accents are? Because they are all very bad. The pacing and diction is all wrong and makes my ears hurt. They should have just hired actual jamaicans, let them use their native voice (with all that that brings - and jamaicans can talk very fast at times, so just use subtitles) and let them get a foot in the industry.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm really liking Cloak and Dagger. The pace is slow but its well paced-slow rather than slow for no reason. The main actors have great chemistry together.

Luke Cage meanwhile.... did anybody mention how bad the jamaican accents are? Because they are all very bad. The pacing and diction is all wrong and makes my ears hurt. They should have just hired actual jamaicans, let them use their native voice (with all that that brings - and jamaicans can talk very fast at times, so just use subtitles) and let them get a foot in the industry.

I was saying something very similar about C&D, it's slow and dark, but gets it right. It's a good show, and tomorrow's episode (season finale) look like it's gonna get real crazy.
I posted about it in the Marvel thread alone w/ the S2 announcement.

as far a LC is concerned... :/
I'll see you in the IF S2 discussion.
It better be better.

[ShyGuy]

Well, I've finished Gravity Falls and...eh, it was good, I guess. I don't see where all the hype is coming from. The first season is just so formulaic and so focused on the tedious would-be love lives of the 2 main characters, which I couldn't possibly give any less of a **** about. The second season strongly focuses the show on the core mystery & features much sharper writing (and the ending is fantastic), but for me it just can't make up for how long it took the show to get to an interesting point.

It was consistently pleasant, but that's about as much praise as I feel it deserves.

I liked Gravity Falls because it felt like an animated X-files but they had enough sense to wrap it up and make sense in a much shorter amount of time.

[broodwars]

Well, I've finished Gravity Falls and...eh, it was good, I guess. I don't see where all the hype is coming from. The first season is just so formulaic and so focused on the tedious would-be love lives of the 2 main characters, which I couldn't possibly give any less of a **** about. The second season strongly focuses the show on the core mystery & features much sharper writing (and the ending is fantastic), but for me it just can't make up for how long it took the show to get to an interesting point.

It was consistently pleasant, but that's about as much praise as I feel it deserves.

I liked Gravity Falls because it felt like an animated X-files but they had enough sense to wrap it up and make sense in a much shorter amount of time.

I liked it well enough, but it was just missing...something, and I think that "something" might have been the writers' spines. The show reminds me a lot of Star Wars Rebels in some ways, in that it feels like the show spends a great deal of time spinning its wheels because the powers that be didn't want the show to introduce themes darker than what preschoolers could handle. So there's no death, very little character development, bumbling villains beaten with very little effort, and no lasting consequences of any kind.

What you get as a trade-off is a series that's consistently pleasant, but doesn't feel like it ever has any stakes until the very last few episodes. And it's really hard for me to get invested in a show where it feels like nothing matters.

[Plugabugz]

I'm really liking Cloak and Dagger. The pace is slow but its well paced-slow rather than slow for no reason. The main actors have great chemistry together.

Luke Cage meanwhile.... did anybody mention how bad the jamaican accents are? Because they are all very bad. The pacing and diction is all wrong and makes my ears hurt. They should have just hired actual jamaicans, let them use their native voice (with all that that brings - and jamaicans can talk very fast at times, so just use subtitles) and let them get a foot in the industry.

I was saying something very similar about C&D, it's slow and dark, but gets it right. It's a good show, and tomorrow's episode (season finale) look like it's gonna get real crazy.
I posted about it in the Marvel thread alone w/ the S2 announcement.

as far a LC is concerned... :/
I'll see you in the IF S2 discussion.
It better be better.

I also dont get how the show manages to waste the talents of Alfre Woodward as badly as it does. She doesn't have chemistry with Shades (who himself doesn't come off as menacing, especially after Mahershala Ali out-acted everyone else on screen with almost no effort). Luke himself feels like a blank slate most of the time while Misty and Claire are the only two to actually have any urgency about them.

Me and my entire family is jamaican so we find the accents grating and frustrating. Mother is watching it with the subtitles on (which themselves just translates back to English rather than putting their actual dialect up, causing a disconnect between what you see and hear).

[BlackNMild2k1]

It was that shows greatest mistake to kill off Cottonmouth.
the 1st 7 episodes are the best that series has been. LC is dull AF as a character... I'm not sure if it's comic accurate, the actor, or the direction he's directed to take, but show some sort of charisma on the screen please. He looks bored with everything he does, it makes him and the show kinda boring.

I also felt the same way as you about Mariah and Shades. It wasn't working, it was never believable, and at times was just plain awkward. She didn't seem fit for the role, and neither did he.

I can't speak for the accents, as I haven't been around enough Jamaicans to critique the accents used, but thankfully the guy that played the main badguy was pretty good, otherwise this whole season would have been a bust.

I really hope at some point all this Live Action Marvel gets put under one roof, and one man.
I know it would be a lot for Feige to oversee, but he could appoint a new #2 on the TV side that would coordinate with him, and up the quality of the casting and story, and maybe even integration with the movies.

I'm really hoping IF S2 is an improvement not just over the 1st season, but over LC S2.
I know Netflix is trying to pump out volume, but they gotta check the quality of these releases too, not that this is all on Netflix, Marvel TV is very much to blame here too.

Good thing AoS and C&D are both good. I'm also looking forward to New Warriors, but who knows when and where we'll see that. Too bad C&D is over after tonight, and we won't see AoS till after A4... so Runaways and Marvel Netflix is probably all we got till Capt Marvel in March of next year (they should have released AM&TW in August.....)

[oohhboy]

(Re)Watching the Justice league animated series. Not as good as Superman Animated or Batman, alot of that is the lack of downtime. You almost never see Clark Kent or supporting characters like ❤️ Lois ❤️, Alfred etc. You barely see anyone out of costume.

JL isn't quite as clever, alot of the time they punch the problem away and Superman is a meat head. The current episode has them fighting Cthulhu, a problem they help cause by busting in on an ally midway resealing a dimensional tear. So now they have to punch Cthulhu to death. It worked out in the end but it was very "Thanks for breaking it hero!".

Hawkgirl is super awesome. HEAYH.

[broodwars]

I've now finished Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans and...wow...that ending. I've seen that thing split people right down the middle: some thinking it ruined the entire series, and others thinking it was absolutely perfect.

I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I can say one thing: it's the most brutal, most vicious, most fatalistic ending in Gundam history. Yes, even more than 0080. It plays war completely straight, pulling none of the narrative cheats that Gundam traditionally uses in its effort to tell a story about noble heroes defeating evil in the face of impossible odds.


The heroes don't overcome impossible odds. They lose. Badly. Every single major fighting character dies (along with most of the minor ones), and almost all the villains survive. And the world is a better place because of it.

I'm going to have to take some time & decompress a bit over this. This was a really awesome show that ended in an incredibly brutal, depressing way. And yet, it's probably my favorite Gundam series for its focus on tactics over magic & never activating the plot armor. Characters die a lot in this series, and the show feels incredibly honest for that reason.

[oohhboy]

I stopped watching that after the first season. It lost me when I lost the plot. I couldn't figure out what the politics were and how fighting all these people were working towards their goal. What was Lacus Kudelia's endgame beyond talking to some people? She ended up being more of a "Princess" than any other despite the initial promise. I just stopped caring.

The fights were generally cool with a more realistic bent it wasn't enough to carry it.

[oohhboy]

Justice League Action.

LOL version of JL. Each episode has some sort of silly premise like Superman riding a Yellow Space Taxi because Lobo is shooting a red sun gun is trying to capture the prisoner supes is transferring to JL prison. Lots of fun.

JL Unlimited. The ending is better than I didn't remember. Superman makes his badass speech going after Darkseed as part of the very long grudge match between the two built up through 2 different shows(3 on a technicality).

Hawkgirl/Hawkman's relationship is as insufferable here as it is in Legends except Hawkgirl is awesome instead of miserable pile of moop.

It has pretty good writing going into social issues smartly as part of the story without any heavy handedness.

Wonder Women is a bit of a man hater, not as bad as a lot of others from themascira but she softens as she interacts with Hawkgirl who has no such hangups.

Hawkgirl arc is about loyalty to herself and others.

Superman is obviously power corrupts. He slowly slips from boyscout to someone who is a bit less idealistic at times having to reassure himself and others that he won't go over the edge. He has to rebuilt trust with how people thought he betrayed them via Darkseed. Which leads to Project Cadamas and Professor Hamilton's defection.

Flash is his seemingly immature attitude and staying as the heart of the group.

Manhunter's is a self enforced isolation as a Martian on Earth and a mind reader.

Batman is about holding the line morally with sheer will and his pain.

Supergirl is purpose and finding a place for herself.

Green Lantern is love? He ends up in a love triangle of sorts and annoys the group with his soldiering.

Aquaman is an asshole nationalist who will happily do anything to protect Atlantis.

[BranDonk Kong]

Fear the Walking Dead - first half of season 4 - 8/10
I stopped watching like halfway through season 3, even though it was pretty decent. Anyway, it's like a completely new show now. Very different than Walking Dead, and a completely different cast than they had in the beginning, aside from a single character. It's worth getting back into of you've given up on the show...you could even start with season 4 and skip the rest and not be too far out of the loop.

[Adrock]

Finally catching up with the Netflix Marvel shows.

The Defenders
This was okay. Better than Iron Fist, but that’s such a low bar, it’s almost not worth mentioning. Speaking of, there was a little too much of the Iron Fist character especially since that show directly preceded The Defenders. Also, what a colossal waste of Sigourney Weaver.

The Punisher
Much better though maybe too long. I never would have thought of Jon Bernthal for the character, but man, he was awesome in Daredevil Season 2, and also awesome here.

The action is a bit too choppy. I may be spoiled from certain fights in Daredevil. Also, retreading Frank Castle’s family getting killed seemed unnecessary. We already saw that in Daredevil. The Punisher starts with him finishing off the last few people responsible for his family’s death then quickly connects the Kandahar conspiracy to his family’s death. Could the writers not come up with any other motivation? I’m not even opposed to the flashbacks. The scene where Frank reprimands his son on the boat with unnecessary force is a good character moment. It shows Frank as a man full of regret who is constantly on the verge of losing his ****. They can have those moments without connecting the larger story arc of the season to his family’s death again. I hope they are away from that in Season 2.

I didn’t really think the connection between Frank Castle and Karen Page was earned. He saves her a couple times and suddenly she’s willing to stick her neck out for him yet things are weird between her and Matt Murdock. What in the...

The Billy Russo twist was hilariously and poorly telegraphed, and I didn’t even know he’s Jigsaw in the comics.

A bit weird that the FBI would just let Frank Castle walk. He murdered so many people, escaped from prison, then murdered more people, faked his death, admitted to being on a death squad that led to the death of Zubair, just a laundry list of terrible, terrible crimes.

[BranDonk Kong]

House of Cards - 10/10 it's crazy how corrupt some people are. Oh, what? Nevermind, I was just watching the news. My bad.

[UncleBob]

Adventure Time: Series Finale.

😣😭😳😖😀😁/10