Peacemaker, despite some nits, was an enjoyable watch and I look forward to season 2. The official podcast was over produced but has some good interviews. The Ringer-Verse coverage is a bit better in terms of the hosts talking about the show.
Watching Suspicion as it comes out one episode a week reaffirms my theory that binging makes weaker shows seem better. This show would benefit from watching it all at once (or 2-3 episodes a day) instead of having time to pick each episode apart.
Arcane on Netflix is incredible, best animated show I've seen in years.
I haven't seen it, and I don't watch much (as in hardly any, ever) animation but I just watched The Legend of Vox Machina on Prime and I loved it! It's an animated series based on a Dungeons & Dragons live stream (Critical Role) and was primarily funded by a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign. The first two episodes are 'good' but they're more about introducing the characters and the world, the story line the season is based on is really introduced in episode 3 and from that point on the show is incredible IMO.
Watching Suspicion as it comes out one episode a week reaffirms my theory that binging makes weaker shows seem better. This show would benefit from watching it all at once (or 2-3 episodes a day) instead of having time to pick each episode apart.
Whenever I binge something, it's like it immediately its vacated from my brain until someone mentions it again. I am really glad I was able to watch Breaking Bad, week-to-week. I feel like that show got binged on Netflix, which was good for the show. It helped it get renewed and grow viewership. But leaving each episode and wanting more is my ideal way to watch these days.
@lengmo I agree with you re Suspicion. I’m quite enjoying it - there’s enough intrigue to keep me interested while I’m watching each episode, but as soon it’s over, I’ve forgotten it. Nothing is really staying in my head and the next week it takes me a few minutes at the start to remember what’s going on. I’d much rather have binged it.
A lot of the acting in it is not great - Uma Thurman was never much chop in the acting stakes, but she seems to be getting worse as she gets older. The Brits doing American accents are super obvious, and the guy from The Americans just might as well not even be there for all the use he has.
I am really glad I was able to watch Breaking Bad, week-to-week.[...] But leaving each episode and wanting more is my ideal way to watch these days.
Breaking Bad is kind of the opposite of a weak show, though, so I don't think watching it week-to-week hurt it.
No, I think it was actually perfect for the binge model. I just think some shows on Netflix could be better devoured in smaller chunks and be more memorable. But totally agree, Breaking Bad is way up there on my Mount Rushmore of TV.
On a different note, I never hear people discuss Black Summer. In The Walking Dead's wildest dreams it couldn't be as amazing as that thing is.
I guess people don’t discuss Black Summer because perhaps they felt as I did, that the first season was comically bad. Second season was good, but that backwards storytelling device was annoying.
That’s the amazing thing about TV/movies (or people): two people can watch the same thing and have wildly different opinions of it.
I started the first episode mid-afternoon & am on S2E2 right now. It's dark, depressing, and full of more drugs than I care for but I can't seem to stop watching.
I guess people don’t discuss Black Summer because perhaps they felt as I did, that the first season was comically bad. Second season was good, but that backwards storytelling device was annoying.
That’s the amazing thing about TV/movies (or people): two people can watch the same thing and have wildly different opinions of it.
Oh man...really? Yeah, I thought the first season was spectacular. The storytelling piece is grating on me a bit though, I will agree on that front.
Quick watch through Hawkeye. Diverting enough, and the one that felt most like a TV miniseries to me, rather than a Marvel movie cut into pieces (though it certainly did feel that way at times). Given the grief Hawkeye often gets from the internet at large, it was nice to see him get a little bit of is due, and Jeremy Renner is likeable as ever. I'm interested to see where they go in the future given a certain event that happens toward the end of the finale, though I've read something similar happened in the comics. On the bright side, I've caught up with MCU TV for now.
Reacher - This is the most dad show I've ever watched but it's great. This dude is like 6'5 280 walking into a small Georgia town and for some reason everybody wants to fight him. It's pretty by the numbers plot wise but you don't come to this show for the plot. He has the detective skills of the Cumberbatch Sherlock character but is also built like a linebacker and instead of cleverly tricking people he just figures out who did what and stomps their faces in.
Four episodes into The Book of Boba Fett and I don't hate it as much as its weak reviews made me think I would. I think The Mandalorian and the MCU shows helped temper my expectations. And I don't think I could ever tire of watching MIng-Na Wen as Fennec. I could watch her smirk and glare forever.
Edit: And after episode 5, well, that's a step up. Shame it took an episode of The Mandalorian to give TBoBF its best episodes.
Severance - Three episodes and I have to stop. Am I missing something? Found myself bored and falling asleep. I know this is going somewhere but I don’t have the patience to wait.
@Teresa from Concord You did better than me - I lasted about two thirds of the first episode. It was like watching paint dry.
My bf likes it so I gave it longer than I should have. And I just heard lunch and apparently the guys love it. But for me there’s no way I would watch another minute of the show.
All Creatures Great and Small, season two ends on a heartwarming but ominous note because, well, it's a show set in the UK in late 1938. I'm going to avoid the temptation to look up the details of James Herriot's life so I don't have any idea what future seasons may entail, other than perhaps the most famous and impactful event of the 20th century.
Over on Disney+, I've started sprinting through Star Wars: The Bad Batch, the sequel/spinoff to The Clone Wars. As a huge Clone Wars fan and clone troopers fan, this has been really fun so far. Back in the EU/Legends days, when I was reading way too much Star Wars material, I did like the post-ROTS stories that went into the early days of the Empire. This show is certainly scratching that itch and the planet-hopping enriches the Star Wars galaxy, arguably more than The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett did. The wonderful thing about animation is there's no location budget and no need to make worlds look realistic. Seven episodes in, I've loved it. And the growing family dynamic of four military dudes trying to raise an adolescent girl has been more entertaining than I would have expected.
Caught up to Severance, which has been plenty intriguing.
In the gap between episodes, I also started Station Eleven. Ominous first episode, which you'd expect given the premise. It's a fitting title for the book and show, since the scenes we see reflect some real world stuff turned up to... eleven.
Station Eleven was pretty good! It has its issues, which A.Ron vociferously acknowledged in the OTC about it (and Dave Chen less passionately talked about on the Filmcast). Ultimately, it was largely worth the journey, especially the Kirsten side of the story and, IMO, almost all of the flashbacks. I did tear up at that big moment in the finale.
Also binged Peacemaker. Completely loved it. For all of the DCEU's flaws, if it keeps delivering offbeat gems like this, it can't be all bad.
Station Eleven was pretty good! It has its issues, which A.Ron vociferously acknowledged in the OTC about it (and Dave Chen less passionately talked about on the Filmcast). Ultimately, it was largely worth the journey, especially the Kirsten side of the story and, IMO, almost all of the flashbacks. I did tear up at that big moment in the finale.
The more I think back on Station Eleven the more I appreciate it. It's not perfect and there's plenty of "I know TV and this is not correct plot work" type stuff you could complain about, but the more I think about it that stuff matters less and less compared to the interesting swings they took that mostly did work. The way they weave the stories of these characters who are mostly only loosely connected across time and space by a guy who dies in the first 5 minutes of the show was really well done and they used the timeline jumping to make the story more effective rather than confusing because of what they chose to focus on and when. Some were better than others, like Miranda was an obvious highlight and I didn't like a lot of the Tyler stuff, but all together it's some of the best TV in recent years IMO.
All of us are Dead - Finally
finished this; if you're looking for fast zombie action, I can highly
recommend it. There are some extended zombie fight/chase/escape scenes
which are amazing. Be aware the show also has a lot of Korean
melodrama, so maybe FFWD those parts. While I'm generally not a fan of
fast zombies I do appreciate how South Korea has embraced the zombie
genre and made it their own.
Cardinal - Just found Hulu has Cardinal, which is kind of a Canadian take on British crime dramas. So far (1.1 seasons watched) I am finding it solidly entertaining but not great. The lead actress was also part of Pan-Am, a Christina Ricci/Margot Robbie show no one else watched. (trailer is full of spoilers so watch at own risk) https://youtu.be/yOeuhYK44wg
Saw the end of Suspicion—what a complete disaster. If you want to see Elizabeth Henstridge in a good show, Agents of Shield is now on Disney plus.
Our Flag Means Death on HBO Max is legit fun. Goofy pirate show set in the 1700s with a surprising amount of heart. Taika Waititi is a producer and he’s also stars in it along with Rhys Darby.
Our Flag Means Death on HBO Max is legit fun. Goofy pirate show set in the 1700s with a surprising amount of heart. Taika Waititi is a producer and he’s also stars in it along with Rhys Darby.
I didn't know about this show at all until I saw it pop up but I've been digging it a lot. It leans heavier into the drama than you might think after the first episode while still being funny.
Doom Patrol, Season 3. Uneven season, unfortunately. It never really snapped into focus, IMO, and didn't delve deeply into most of the characters it introduced and was just kind of all over the place. It was a season that danced to the edge of some big ideas and changes but then retreated from them (save one literally big change).
Our Flag Means Death. I'm three episodes in and it's okay so far. Not gut busting, but the characters are likeable and I'm interested in seeing how their various dynamics evolve. Plus, plenty of familiar faces from both past comedies I've seen and Game of Thrones, so that's a bonus.
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I haven't seen it, and I don't watch much (as in hardly any, ever) animation but I just watched The Legend of Vox Machina on Prime and I loved it! It's an animated series based on a Dungeons & Dragons live stream (Critical Role) and was primarily funded by a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign. The first two episodes are 'good' but they're more about introducing the characters and the world, the story line the season is based on is really introduced in episode 3 and from that point on the show is incredible IMO.
On a different note, I never hear people discuss Black Summer. In The Walking Dead's wildest dreams it couldn't be as amazing as that thing is.
That’s the amazing thing about TV/movies (or people): two people can watch the same thing and have wildly different opinions of it.
The more I think back on Station Eleven the more I appreciate it. It's not perfect and there's plenty of "I know TV and this is not correct plot work" type stuff you could complain about, but the more I think about it that stuff matters less and less compared to the interesting swings they took that mostly did work. The way they weave the stories of these characters who are mostly only loosely connected across time and space by a guy who dies in the first 5 minutes of the show was really well done and they used the timeline jumping to make the story more effective rather than confusing because of what they chose to focus on and when. Some were better than others, like Miranda was an obvious highlight and I didn't like a lot of the Tyler stuff, but all together it's some of the best TV in recent years IMO.
Saw the end of Suspicion—what a complete disaster. If you want to see Elizabeth Henstridge in a good show, Agents of Shield is now on Disney plus.
I didn't know about this show at all until I saw it pop up but I've been digging it a lot. It leans heavier into the drama than you might think after the first episode while still being funny.