The TV shows you've seen recently thread.

[Phoenix Dark]

It's in line with Sorrentino's other work. It's strange and he gives you zero bracers and throws you right in, immediately. I'm assuming PD has little experience with this kinda work.

you're right. entire tone was just...yikes.

[dkdk]

i think the show is wonderful. jude law kills it.

i can see it being extremely hit or miss.

[seagrams hotsauce]

Yea I was ready to ding off on Young Pope but I actually enjoyed the first couple episodes. It's pretty trashy but I thought the writing was pretty solid for the most part.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

tho why is Diane Keaton in this?

[close]

[VomKriege]

Finished Stranger Things : good show overall, the story is straightforward and I enjoyed they didn't really spent too much time explaining the supernatural in every detail. The characters have touching stories (especially the little girl, the sheriff and the mother of the missing boy played by W.Ryder), the emotional payoff is effective all around and it applies a surprising spin on a couple of 80's clichés : it's not indebted to its influence to the point of being stale.

I have quite a few issues with the last episode though. It tries to tie all the narrative strings in one neat finale, but it felt forced : a lot of busywork of groups and characters going somewhere just for the sake of superficial movement (but not doing a whole lot in reality) and having a big "action" scene. Not sure what to think of some of the violence in that episode too, there's a dark & nasty sequence...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

El fries the brain of a dozen people, Tetsuo-style

[close]

...that felt jarring within the larger context of the show. All of the climax also has blinking lights (obviously to help the VFX) to the point of irritation and for some reason there's two epilogues (Peter Jackson's Return of the King style !) with a laborious setup for a second season. It's silly but those last 5 minutes or so really sour the quality of the conclusion.

[StealthFan]

I love This Must Be The Place. Not sure about The Young Pope tho...

[chronovore]

17 episodes in to Supernatural s6 and still enjoying it. It's primarily down to the interaction of the main characters; Dean and Sam and Cassiel are the prime source of entertainment, though their work with Bobby is also so much fun. I was also starting to enjoy the riffing between Bobby and Rufus, and was just thinking about how I'd even watch a Rufus and Bobby spin-off, and then stuff happened that would preclude that pretty definitively. The heel-turns and (moderate) babyface-turns are also enjoyable a recovering wrestling fan.

[chronovore]

Finished Supernatural s6, going to roll right into s7. The pacing was off from a season standpoint. The Mother of All villain was shortchanged despite an absolutely out-of-left-field resolution. I liked it, but someone on her power scale, introducing as many new elements as she brought with her, I expected a smarter and longer path to resolution. The way things /did/ wrap was pretty great though. Serious character interaction, and some nice places for Castiel's character to come out beyond simple comic relief. I'm also happy to see the varying ways they're using Crowley; I like Mark Sheppard a bunch, and this character in particular manages to interestingly outmaneuver the boys consistently.


Also finished Arrow s1. The last couple episodes put the accelerator down in surprise developments. Three or four big surprises each time. The show has such a different tone from The Flash, not just the absence of metahumans, but the larger focus on human interaction. Sometimes too much focus on the melodrama. My family was sitting in shock when the credits rolled. We've got s2 queued up for tonight.

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/01/30/the-good-place-renewed-for-season-2-by-nbc?abthid=588fb351652f95993800000c


 

[benjipwns]

Lucifer actually has become really enjoyable. They've done the complete opposite of what I would have expected and thrown out the police procedural stuff as the core thread of the show in favor of deep arcs outright involving angels and demons (rather than dancing around it and having such characters only show up every couple episodes and for finales as they did in the first season) and Lucifer actually dealing with his purpose for existing (which again the first season used more as a foil for plot of the week) and all kinds of scheming and planning against/with God. Also, God's ex who is Lucifer and all angel's "mum" added the other character they needed to weight the show's center firmly in the supernatural stuff.

And Maze getting a job as a bounty hunter and becoming roommate to the cop lady.

It's not the comic and I never expected it could or would be, but strangely, it's somewhat drifted more in that direction that I could have imagined. (The comic abandoned its initial premise to instead chase a central thread regarding God and Lucifer's relationship and a radical shift in the power dynamic.) Glad I stayed with it after the early episodes were broken before they remembered that Lucifer abandoning Hell probably allows for more than wacky hijinks.

[CatsCatsCats]

Oh word they did Lilith? I keep seeing that it's still going and considering giving it a chance

Edit oh wait I guess that wouldn't be Lilith

[benjipwns]

She hasn't been named, and is just listed as the human she's inhabited in the credits. They all call her mom, mum, etc.

They have mentioned that Azrael is their sister though a number of times. And they have her blade, who somebody stole, down on Earth, so I have to assume she's going to show up at some point.

I haven't watched the midseason finale from last week yet, apparently they revealed why/how the cop lady is tied to Lucifer, which is kinda early to get that whole thing completely out of the way. Figured they'd drag that on until they were cancelled and had to reveal it in a reddit post.

[etiolate]

The Expanse is back. First two episodes retain the quality. Want to pick up the books.

And yeah Lucifer has gone fully into the supernatural part. The psychiatrist is a good side character as well. Haven't caught the past two episodes.

Emerald City is an interesting take on Oz. I feel like D'onofrio is just playing D'onofrio though. He's the same guy he was as Kingpin.

[chronovore]

Supernatural s7 has been a mixed bag. Uneven pacing, stutterstop of Sam's PTSD and Castiel's presence.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Cass going rogue, power-hungry was a neat heel-turn, and sacrificing himself as an act of redemption was touching. Bringing him back in e17 or so, quickly and weirdly revealing him, reincorporating, and then sidelining him was weird. Sam and Dean being willing to leave him in the care of a demon was WTF territory.
 

Sam's Satan-is-my-copilot PTSD seemed like it had been proven to be all in his head, but "transferring" it to Cass, and being something which could take an angel out of commission - implausible. If it turns out that Satan was just fucking with Sam and pretending to be only in his head as a game, and then Trojan-horsed his way into Cass? That'd be brilliant. Also, almost certainly a retcon.

The "big bad" of this season, the Leviathans, are generally pretty lame. They're inconsistent in their tone other than callous dismissiveness and a fatal willingness to regularly underestimate Sam and Dean. More than that, the groping way the show tried to tie them to HP Lovecraft is misguided and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the author's oeuvre. Leviathans are just demons with different weaknesses. A missed opportunity to do a fresh take on that material. They should have just attributed it to a different author, or pastiche of period horror.

Still enjoying the interaction between the characters.

Bobby. Man, that was a rough way to go out. A great episode with more good interaction between Rufus and Bobby, but I seriously haz a sad over Bobby.

[close]

[Madrun Badrun]

ya this is the low point.  things improve though.

[CatsCatsCats]

The Expanse's season opener was v good, really enjoying that show

[VomKriege]

Started watching S1 of the Expanse and we like it. Good SF ideas. SFX are alright though below a feature film quality (they pick their battles well on that front). Fairly classic stuff but there's nothing wrong with that.

[CatsCatsCats]

It really gets going towards the end

[Momo]

[Freyj]

Just finished a rewatch of Twin Peaks and FWWM. Fuck that last scene is so good.

I can't imagine what this show looks like in 2017 and I really hope they stick with the lack of new teaser / trailer footage through to the premiere.

[Bebpo]

Thinking about finally starting/watching Twin Peaks.  Does it still hold up?

[Freyj]

Put it on a second monitor or something around S2E8/9 and get through to the last episode and you'll be fine. I'd say the main thing is how much do you like David Lynch and how much can you take camp. If the answer to both those questions is reasonably well, you'll have a good time.

Also: a fun game to play is "remember that this was on primetime ABC in the early 90s" when the Lynch stuff really gets going.

[VomKriege]

Thinking about finally starting/watching Twin Peaks.  Does it still hold up?

There's absolutely great stuff in there (highest point is S2 opener directed by Lynch, tremendous bit that) but tamper your expectations.

Visually it's not as cutting edge as it once was, it's even a bit stale now. Badalamenti's music is great but they overuse it pretty bad. As often with Lynch it sometimes feels like it's bizarre for the sake of it (though that's pretty tame compared to his later excesses).

It's really all a weird soap with freaks and a gruesome twist where you cycle through characters of varying quality : S1 is tight with a stellar cast but S2 completely fucks the pacing by having new so-so characters (the Horne brother played by Richard Patrick Kelly is the only good one... Maybe Duchovny too but that's not even S2 ?) and having some of the blandest returning ones suck off joy with absolutely inane subplots (one outside the city even, breaking cohesion).

S2 on the whole is a big wet fart, at one point the key mystery -which is really the tone setter- gets resolved (as much as a Lynch thing can be) for the audience but the story drags it really bad a couple episodes. Though considering just how awful the next arc is, you understand why they made the most of it. Final episode goes super ham for the better but it's a small reward.

I'd say to give it a go but don't feel bad if you stop at any point beyond the S2 first couple of episodes.

[Bebpo]

Gotcha, but S1 will be great?

I like Lynch's weirdness, I don't always like Lynch's abstractness (Lost Highway = amazing soundtrack, ehhh movie).  I also like most things that are TP inspired, as I very much enjoy weird and especially dark mysterious weird.

[chronovore]

 I tried re-watching Twin Peaks last year, and just couldn't do it. The camp was OK, but much of it is pacing and tone didn't age well. I may be watch the final episode of the series before starting The new shows.
Supernatural: I finished season seven. Hoping the Leviathans have a far-diminished presence in season eight. I am enjoying the Word of God stuff so far.

[Dennis]

Super hyped for Stranger Things 2.

[Freyj]

Gotcha, but S1 will be great?

I like Lynch's weirdness, I don't always like Lynch's abstractness (Lost Highway = amazing soundtrack, ehhh movie).  I also like most things that are TP inspired, as I very much enjoy weird and especially dark mysterious weird.

S2 is fine in parts, the pacing sucks and a lot of the side character arcs are complete shit. The last episode and the movie make up for it.

[Momo]

(Image removed from quote.)


Super hyped for Stranger Things 2.

Same chars, same setting, same world

[Momo]

[Stoney Mason]

(Image removed from quote.)


Super hyped for Stranger Things 2.

Same chars, same setting, same world (Image removed from quote.)

That's why I don't have high hopes and always felt like season 1 was going to be lighting in a bottle.

Hey guys, insane things are happening again but us 5 to 7 people are still the only one's who know what's going on is gonna get tired. You can do that the first time. But multiples times...

[chronovore]

The Expanse's season opener was v good, really enjoying that show

I tried watching this show and gave up after the second episode when I realized I really didn't like any of the characters. I guess the UN Undersecretary lady is pretty cool. The detective dude is alright, but I can't get over the fact that they literally took a Raymond Chandler composite character and stuck him into a sci-fi. I absolutely hate everyone who is (as of the end of episode 2) on that escape pod ship. The best space characters were the Captain and the Navigator that the XO guy was banging. I can't stand the dude who looks like Turtle from Entourage. I was really annoyed that they decided to just usurp the ranking officer because reasons. Really this shouldn't be happening unless the guy is incompetent, which he's not. But he just rolls over and takes it. And I wouldn't even be that bothered by it if the black girl character that somehow gets put in charge wasn't almost as annoying as Turtle.

Earth vs Mars with some asteroids that are basically slave colonies thrown into the mix is a pretty cool concept, but it's been done better in animated shows that involve copious amounts of giant mecha action.

One thing I really liked is the way the ship movement conveys the fact that there's no real up or down in space. Most space shows/movies basically have the ships behaving like oceanic naval vessels in terms of their movement options.

You should push on a bit further. The books are better at making the characters enjoyable. Avasandra is 10X better in the books, for what it's worth. But as for the TV show, the detective becomes more fully fleshed out by the end of the 1st season, and is pretty far from Chandleresque by the end of the first book. The belter hauler crew are difficult to like but easier to understand their motivations as the show continues.

[Stoney Mason]

Great Always Sunny episode last night. Hopefully they stick with what happened instead of reverting it.

[Mr. Gundam]

Legion was awesome, but I'm surprised they

spoiler (click to show/hide)

left the hospital already.

[close]

[Bebpo]

Finished the first ep of Twin Peaks.  That was neat.  It held up great and having grown up seeing tons of stuff inspired by Twin Peaks it's cool seeing all nods from the other direction.  Like the Diner at the start is literally the Diner Alan Wake starts in, the Town Hall meeting is copied straight out in Deadly Premonition along with a dozen other things.  Like I never got the FK in the coffee until I saw the R in the fingernail and then it all makes sense.  And DP's Zak to TP's Diane, I thought DP was like taking the twin peaks idea but making it goofy but nah TP is goofy itself.

Also Angelo Badalamenti's score and main theme is fantastic.  I've always liked the stuff he does with Lynch but the TP theme is this great goth synth and oddest nod is that I think Gabriel Knight 1's soundtrack was inspired by TP's ost.  Like the TP theme instantly reminded me of the GK theme.

https://m.

But yeah, this is really neat going back and watching what influenced so many things I've enjoyed.

[etiolate]

The thing with The Expanse early on is that it juggles a ton of story arcs and characters that are separate at first, but many converge towards the end of the season into a cohesive whole.

[Phoenix Dark]

[zomgee]

My wife and I started watching Sherlock, finally. We're both really enjoying it.

[Madrun Badrun]

My wife and I started watching Sherlock, finally. We're both really enjoying it.

Ya its a good time even though its pretty old at this point.  Just like PD's mom.

[zomgee]

My wife and I started watching Sherlock, finally. We're both really enjoying it.

Ya its a good time even though its pretty old at this point.  Just like PD's mom.

I'm not sure why I never tried to watch it. I've never been much of a TV watcher. I hate sitcoms for the most part, and most dramas feel hackneyed because they have to finish the story in an hour. But Sherlock finishes the story in its time frame, and only overstays its welcome a little bit before the finale.

[chronovore]

About to wrap up s2 of Arrow. At this point, I'm getting tired of keeping track of which secret identities each of the characters knows about, and which of the heroes knows who knows their secret identities. It's clearly creeping toward all the main characters knowing everyone's identities, at which point the drama can shift toward a actual set of character arcs instead of bullshit CW soap opera "suspense." The modern-day Deathstroke costume is a fanboy's cosplay wet dream, in a good way. It's a much more realized version of the costume than Arrow's s1 green eye-shadow as a "mask." NONE of the expectations I had about who would be handling Ollie's training on the island have come to fruition. I have NO IDEA how he's supposed to become a ninja when so many other potential trainers either hate him or have died.


Also about ⅓ through s8 of Supernatural. It's... enjoyable? This flashback to Sam's year of living with Amelia are kind of annoying. They're nothing to do with the show's theme other than "hunters can't have a normal life," which we knew; and they're just straight-up soap operatic garbage. Thankfully, it looks like that will end. I like Benny the Cajun Vampire though. He's an interesting antihero, and as much as Dean bitches and whines about disappointing so many people in his life, I'd say his unwillingness to make time for Benny is the most egregiously irresponsible thing he's done in the series.

[Stoney Mason]

 

[king of the internet]

Anything with Eliot or Eliot and Mr. Robot is great imo. Tyrell is kinda interesting. Everyone else sucks. Biggest downside to the series is all the scenes following the dead weight.

[chronovore]

Arrow, we are just starting s3. I'm seriously tired of trying to remember who knows whose secret identity, and also who-knows-who-knows. Tiresome! A couple big twists:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sara/Canary - end of s2: "I'm leaving, don't try to find me, 'k bye." Opening episode of s3: "I'm back!" WAIT, WHAT? "I'm dead!" WAIT, WHAT-WHAT? This all reeks of insufficient communication on the writers' part. It's possible that the actress had something come up and she needed out, BUT SHE WAS ALREADY OUT. Inconsistent.

Felicity - end of s2, Ollie says, "I love you, j/k that's only to capture Slade." Opening episode of s3, "Actually, I love you and you love me but let's have all this fall apart immediately without any emotional payoff or reason."

Still enjoying this overall, but it's an overly complex soap opera which is making me miss The Flash.

[close]

[VomKriege]

Finished the first season of The Expanse and I liked it. Unlike our fellow Borean up thread, I didn't really have an issue with the crew members characters : they're not very likeable, but I can believe them, I think it works better as it is really, just an happy go lucky merry band of nice guys wouldn't have cut it. The Syfy low production value became more apparent in the last episodes (it's harder to make up for cheaper sets and low number of extras than to make OK CGI at this point) but it didn't harm the storytelling too much. It had neat ideas up until the end (the origin story of the protagonist, graphite pens, space pachinko parlors) and I'm partial to the Don Quixote references. Kinda weary of the serial format of the story otherwise but since it is drawing from books, it shouldn't be too aimless hopefully.

And I think I already said this, but it's one show where you can't fault them for diversity.

[benjipwns]

Finished the first season of Mr. Robot

Thought it started off great, the early half was way better than the later half. But began to unravel a bit near the end:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Darlene being his sister was great twist, but can't say I liked the Tyler Durden shit much(when "Where Is My Mind" started playing I groaned a bit. It wasn't so much it was awfully done but more like it was a bit too obvious with it's influence there.

[close]

Oh and I don't care much about Angela and he side plot. Shit is bathroom break material for me.

Overall, I really like the show. Starting season 2 now.

I said it way back in this thread I think...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Darlene twist is the bigger and better twist by far, it completely upends what you thought their relationship was and explains why she knows where he lives, is friends with his friend, has open access to his apartment, talks shit to him in the first or second episode when he questions her over some dumb thing, etc. Mr. Robot basically doesn't change anything for anyone else.

That moment and the encounter with Tyrell's wife in the street are like the two "somebody hold me back i'm about to lose my shit" moments from the first season for me

spoiler (click to show/hide)

although just randomly murdering what seems like a regular character has become so normal that them actually doing it so early was a bit surprising as I figured it'd be something to keep for later, also the way they did it leaving her in the trunk, etc.

[close]

[close]

[Madrun Badrun]

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Been watching House.  Every episode is about the same (something they eventually poke fun at) but the first four seasons are marginally entertaining with the back four being a slog.  Almost through season 6 now.

Mods, please change my name to Olivia Wilde Homo.  Thank you

[Madrun Badrun]

Olivia Wilde is incredible. 

[Freyj]

Anything with Eliot or Eliot and Mr. Robot is great imo. Tyrell is kinda interesting. Everyone else sucks. Biggest downside to the series is all the scenes following the dead weight.

Evil Corp CEO is pretty great, otherwise you're correct.

[Mr. Gundam]

SHIELD was outstanding last night.

[chronovore]

SHIELD was outstanding last night.

Agents of SHIELD s3 /just/ became available here. 

[fistfulofmetal]

Even though I knew it was coming I got to the part of The 100 where they kill Lexa. Fuck off, show.

I know I just spoiled it. But if you have any interest in the show you need to know. The show is bad tbh but the lore is really cool. But it's just a fucking train of character assassination and cheap bullshit.

[toku]

Ppl way too butthurt over that. They do worse to better characters imo.

[etiolate]

Really good episode of The Expanse tonight. The Eros scene was a good use of their SFX budget.

[Yeti]

Ppl way too butthurt over that imo. They do worse to better characters imo.

Yeah, Bellamy just deciding to go all genocidal for no reason was much worse

[Momo]

Even though I knew it was coming I got to the part of The 100 where they kill Lexa. Fuck off, show.

I know I just spoiled it. But if you have any interest in the show you need to know. The show is bad tbh but the lore is really cool. But it's just a fucking train of character assassination and cheap bullshit.

Everytime I hear 'sky crew' or 'skaikrew' however they try to hide the fact that they are saying sky crew in a 'hip, cool' way I cringe so hard my chin burrows deep into my chest. That and the fucking character motivations are stupid and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssss. I like the lore and setting though

[Mr. Gundam]

SHIELD was outstanding last night.

Agents of SHIELD s3 /just/ became available here. 

So I probably shouldn't talk about Legion I'm guessing. I bet you'll get it after I come visit next year.

[chronovore]

SHIELD was outstanding last night.

Agents of SHIELD s3 /just/ became available here. 

So I probably shouldn't talk about Legion I'm guessing. I bet you'll get it after I come visit next year.

Oh, I'm used to spoilers here. A couple of the young'ns here can't seem to keep their spoiler tags in order, so I'm used to it.

I may grab LEGION on iTunes, but that's always $30-40 a pop for the season (or ½ seasons in the case of Star Wars: Rebels).

[etiolate]

I got bored of this season of Agents of Shield after Ghost Rider left. The current plot is kinda cheesy for me.

Speaking of cheesy, I started watching Legends. It's a  show about an undercover agent that is often cheesy and eye-rolly because of its characters. The concept is interesting in that its about deep cover agents who have full backstory and lives to their covers and who slip in and out of the various covers they have. Kenneth Brannaugh's giant acting ego plays the lead and the setup allows him to essentially play multiple characters. The twist is

spoiler (click to show/hide)

he can't remember which persona or cover is who he really is anymore.

[close]

The concept is more interesting than the writing, but I'm sticking with it for now.

[Mr. Gundam]

SHIELD was outstanding last night.

Agents of SHIELD s3 /just/ became available here. 

So I probably shouldn't talk about Legion I'm guessing. I bet you'll get it after I come visit next year.

Oh, I'm used to spoilers here. A couple of the young'ns here can't seem to keep their spoiler tags in order, so I'm used to it.

I may grab LEGION on iTunes, but that's always $30-40 a pop for the season (or ½ seasons in the case of Star Wars: Rebels).

Legion is totally worth it after the first three episodes.

[Madrun Badrun]

katherine ryan netflix special was great