FinFan

Contains major spoilers !!!!!

Huge and utterly dissapointing. After TFA I said this movie would make or break the story. For me it broke.

Where to begin? Let´s start with my biggest problem.

After that rebel cruisers bridge was hit and Leia was thrown into space we saw her drifting in the cold empty vacuum of space. This was a powerful scene and I had tears welling up in my eyes thinking that would be a great ending for the character dying how she always lived. Fighting. I did not realise, or care, that it would have been a huge coincidence had they written this scene at that point not knowing Carrie would pass away. But as I said powerful scene. And then she opens her eyes and floated back into the ship still beeing alive. At that point I was seriously considering leaving the cinema. It´s scifi but, please, without as much as a hint of an explanation that is just awful writing. It is Disney all over it. Anyway I stayed and watched the rest but in general I was done with the movie.

There are tons of other things I didn´t like.

• way to much unnessesary and stupid humor. Most of the time it does not fit and just destroys scenes. Holding for General Hux - that might have been OK once but two or three times it just becomes goofy. And there is more of this througout the movie.

• the writing was all over the place. So much things going on that do little to nothing for the general plot and just add playtime. Like that whole thing with the codebreaker, going to the casino. Just sugarcoating CGI.

• and speaking of playtime - way too long. About five times towards the end I thought it was over. It could have ended when the reached the rebel base- no let´s add another battle. When they realised they where trapped. With Luke going out to face Kylo. At some point I would have been OK with the movie ending with the First Order defeating the rebels, everyone dying, and the franchise done with. But of course that is not happening and the movie ends.....no, just show us a kid with a broom looking at the stars and indicate he could be the hero of a future movie.

• in many ways the continuation of storylines is not satisfiying. They introduce Snoke in the first movie without an explanation who he is, where he comes from and how he got there. Would have been OK, could have done later. So now he´s dead without so much as a fight and there are questions left to be answered.

• what about Rey ? Are we really to believe her parents were some drunk and drifting scavengers that sold her for money like Ren said ? That would be very stupid because how in the universe could she master the Force in ways even the best Jedis or Sith couldn´t without as much as years of training. Another void in the storytelling.

• too many, shall I call them, homage scenes ? A lot of times I felt I had already seen this movie. The scene in the throne room f.e. Snoke = Emperor, Rey = Luke, Ben = Vader, the destruction of the rebel fleet playing in the background and the Ben killing Snoke is like Vader killing the Emperor. I know that was said about TFA as well but I feel it´s much worse here. The Battle of Hoth reviseted would be another thing where they re-did some scenes to a T. All that was left was tow cables.

Those are just some examples of the things I disliked and maybe there could be satisfactory explanation later. There is a lot more but it would take too much time to write it down. But I doubt I will go to the cinema for the next one.

To be fair there where some positives in this movie.

• I liked the scenes with Rey and Luke althought they did not really lead anywhere. But some nice insights into Lukes story after ROTJ.

• The conversations between Kylo and Rey where very interesting and I thought there was really potential to steer the story to something new and exciting. Not happening.

So overall I was not satisfied. I really like TFA, it built some expectations that where all crushed with this. As far as I am concerned I am done with this new story. I am not not very eager to find out what else the canibalise and how they try to write themselves out of this. There is nothing left.

This is my view of the movie. If you liked it I´m happy for you.

May the Force be with us. Always.

Without lots of action, without much of the popular Star Wars lore like the Force, Jedi, Lightsabers, this show delivers with every new episode.

It was very interesting to see that Mon Mothma was reluctant to delve fully into engaging the Empire in open Rebellion. We've never seen that side. I also like that they adressed that people are and will be dying like Luthen told her. It's not much of romantisizing. It's war. And the Empire responds the only way it knows how. By asserting even more power. By being predictable, thus playing into the Rebels hands.

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Which at least some inside the Empire seem to understand while others still think of their position.

We also see the glimmer of hope from the people that things are about to change for the better when they hear off the attack on Aldhani. And althought Star Wars is not known for portraying contemporary problems within the story telling, I wonder if the similarities are just random.

I really interested how characters like Syril and Dedra will develop moving forward. Could they actually (well maybe one of them) end up with the Rebels ?

Oh, and the world building in this show is also great: Bureau of Standards. It's the Empire put in a single building and again something that reminds me of our present.

Best episode ever because lightsaber fight !

Seriously ?! It was in parts better but it couldn't save the show as a whole.

OK, I admit I was wrong and there was another match between them. And it was better then the first. But no stupid writing ? Why did Vader just leave Obi-Wan under the rocks ? He couldn't feel he was still alive ? Well, he couldn't feel him sneaking up behind him, couldn't he ? But he knew he was on the little ship. And if that is how it went down why didn't Obi-Wan just kill Vader right there? Could have saved the galaxy lots of trouble. He clearly had accepted that Anakin was gone, he even called him "Darth" (which by the way is wrong because that's a title, the name would be Vader). And they now established that the Empire, and Vader, knew all the time that Kenobi was alive and where he was.

Luke having no memory of being chased in the night by a lady with a crimson lightsaber ? OK, maybe it's one of those selected memory losses.

Reva standing on the surface of Tattoine after taking a lightsaber in her guts just mere hours before ? How is that not convinient writing ? And wanna bet we see her again? Maybe in a spin-off?

Qui-Gon appearing at the end was nice but ultimately useless. This final episode was just ticking up boxes to preserve canon but it also creates logical errors by doing so. And there was never any danger towards the characters.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but after watching what I had high hopes for, I can only say it would have been better it didn't happen.

It's a very good episode but I wish it would have come at a later time. Maybe even next season. But with a fourth season still not confirmed and all but given I think they wanted to set some things straight.

At almost one and a half hours this is practically a double episode and I must say that this was the first time I thought it was a bit too long. The first half was OK. I was really dissapointed by Haveena's decisions. Her motives might've been honorable but I was totally with Ed when he told her what he thought about it. What follows was a predictable way the story unfolded. I'm not sure where they wanted to go with the hinted possible romance between Kelly and Bortus. Especially since they already threw a wrench in it at the end.

Everything really picks up at around the time when Gordon speaks up and calls out the Moclans for what they are. What follows are some powerfull scenes f.e. when Bortus adresses the Council as a father who's child has been abducted and tortured. Those were some hard to swallow scenes seeing Topa being tortured (kudos to Imani Pullum) and MacFarlane once again shows he's not shy to go there if it helps the plot. And I fully expected Bortus to turn around once again and kill the torturer but he didn't want his child to see him kill another.

We finally get the only logical conclusion that the Moclans are thrown out of the Union because everything else at this point would be a cheat. Going back to Gordon, I too am sick and tired of people doing bad things from a position of power and always getting away with it. (Take that sentence for what it is - I will not say anything more).

There is the surprise return of Clyden (I expected him back at some point but not so soon) but I think his change of heart is genuine and believable. Almost loosing your child can change your perspective. And he also makes peace with Kelly. Like I said - all this might've worked even better at some point in the future but who knows if there is one for the show. Now, with Clyden back that hinted thing between Bortus and Clyden makes even less sense.

And why haven't we learned about the "Traitor" on Moclus ? Is that supposed to be falling into background noise or will that be re-visited.

Couple of other notes:

Dolly Parton- it's amazing Seth pulled that of. In hindsight it seems like a given but I never would've thought she'd do it.

LaMarr's "Yeah, Sherlock" had me spill my drink. That was so delivered on point.

It's the character moments at the end that had me somewhere between smiling and, yes, tearing up. Any episode that achieves that is never a bad one in my book.

The Orville is back! And it looks amazing. Although we maybe spend a little too much time looking at space docks and starships. But they compensated with additional runtime so I take it.

The story is again what this is about. It was great that they picked up on the fact that Isaac was re-instated and what that meant for the crew onboard. Althought I think they are all wrong about him. Yes, it's human to hate and they need a scapegoat. But Isaac did only follow his programming, he did what he was supposed to do just like your PC does what you tell him. But he then overcame his programming, choosing (!) to help defeat the Kaylons. He became more then his program.

The whole story is an analogy about online mobbing and how it can drive people to commit suicide. Claire's words toward Isaac at the end make that clear. It's great to see we still follow that formula and wrap the stories around real problems.

But despite the fact that Burke helped at the end, I still don't like her. That's probably what they wanted to achieve with the character. It would have been easy to make her come around and a part of me is glad the didn't take that road. But for her to get on my good side there will be a lot of redeeming involved.

Funny how now the Empire Remnant has a secret underground resistance against the New Republic. How the tables have turned.

This episode was way better in terms of storytelling but it left me very frustrated. I know that the Mandalorians are not likely to win if they want to keep the mythology. But just for once I'd like to see them come out on top. Gideon has become a bit ridicolous. He's the archetype of a bad guy. He was more interesting when he wasn't flying around as a Vader look-alike. I hate to see Vizla die but I should've seen that one coming because I really grew to like him. Grogu inside IG ? Come-on, he's a Force user. Despite the fact he choose not to train with Luke he still has the ability, no ? And we still must have a monster, doesn't we ?

Now, those are personal and, yes, biased points on my behalf. Like I said it was a great episode as such. In the end I see it as a win for the author if he invokes those reactions from me. There were also moments that gave me serious goosebumps. Like when Bo told them what happened between her and Gideon and subsequent how Din told her why he's following her. The talk about Thrawn didn't surprise me. I expected that pretty much from episode one forward.

Only one episode left and I hope there'll be some silver lining.

So, let me start with some critique: the whole Janisi story line was really bad. And, NO, not because it put women at the center. I don't mind that. But trying to build trust by lying or misleading. When did that ever work out ? The solution wasn't very good either. But Bortus had some cool one-liners.

What I liked was to see into the history of the Kaylon. Now, of course we already knew about all of this but finally seeing it was great. It might be a common theme in scifi, the cration overthrowing its master, but when you see the treatment of K1 you actually find more than a shred of understanding. I was surprised though they showed the killing of the children. Most shows wouldn't go there. Of course the Kaylon then made the false assumption that all biological lifeforms are like that - just like Charlie assumed all Kaylons are evil. But she finally beginns to understand that she's on the wrong side here. And not too soon I might add.

We also delve again into the relationship between Claire and Isaac, two of my favorite characters (to be honest, aside from Charlie there isn't one I didn't like). When the possibillity appeared that Isaac's emotion are there to stay I wasn't sure where I stood. At the moment it felt to easy that he could get them just like that. It felt convenient to introduce another Kaylon with emotions and that we just copy/paste it onto Isaac. But the scene between him and Claire was amazing. Marc is such a terrific actor and it's almost a shame he has to hide his face behind the helmet most of the time. How he switched from an emotinal state to full Kaylon in an instant was great. Now, for the sake of the character I'm glad he can't keep the emotions. It also gave us another great moment when he offered, for all intense and purposes, his life. Because that's what erasing all his memories stands for. He would not be Isaac any longer. That's the definition of love. And for the same reasons Claire rejects his offer. That's the type of stories I love to see. Those moments between characters.

The "stuff" between John and Talla was also cool and funny. Althought I thought the final scene between them was a tad to much.

Overall some weak spots and maybe a bit too much thrown into one episode. But even with those small points of critique it was another great episode.

Just let me get two things out of the way I think were weak storytelling.

First, putting the drive on the hub was the stupidest thing to do as it could only lead to her getting caught. It also was illogical as it was clear that they would just override it and/or claim it as false. Granted she didn't know about the Janitor room but she knew there was surveilance everywhere and because of that might reach the conclusion that all those feeds had to be watched somewhere. But the story needs to go on so I'll take it.

Second, its hard to believe that they didn't inspect the stuff they brought to Juliette or they would have found the note. Even not knowing what it meant they would not have let it through. Plus, from a storyelling point of view it was giving too much away. Would have been better to not show it. Instead they could insert a scene when Juliette is about to break down to explain that she didn't die. And speaking of dying, Where are all the others that went out? Does someone actually go out to collect the bodies ?

Now, for the big reveal at the end I have to say I didn't see that coming. After making us believe (and I did) that it is safe outside, not only do we learn it is not, but there are literally dozens of silos out there. Does that mean the whole of mankind lives underground ? My guess is that each one thinks they are the only one and each one does have someone taking care that it stays like that. But we still don't have an idea about why ?

There is one thing I noticed that I want to point out. When Juliette told Holland about the door below he seem genuinely surprised. As if he didn't knew. That was the moment he ended the conversation. Just saying.

So, I don't know the books but from reading elsewhere I understand we barely scratched the surface of the story. I wonder how slow they will go with this one. The second season is already confirmed but thre is always the chance of not getting a third, or forth, or however many they need to play this out.

I sure hope we're not getting left hanging in the air atsome point.

On its own this wasn't a bad episode with the Clone Wars flashbacks, the images of Vader overlaying Anakin, and I liked little Ahsoka a lot more than her older self. It still left me very indifferent.
Not a shred of explanation on how Anakin could even be there. I never liked World between Worlds for reasons I already stated in other comments/replies. And here it just seemes to be a tool to have Ahsoka meet Anakin, have them involved in yet another lightsaber battle (I'm curious if they will have an episode without one) and count on the fact the viewer will be satisfied without asking any questions. The whole episode counts on that, it's full of these nostalgic moments with an almost angelic score to back this up. I'm a huge "Rebels" fan and am somewhat happy with how this played out aside from the Anakin part. But I wonder how viewers who don't have that connection will experience this. And why didn't Hera went with them ? I fully expected her to throw her commission at Mon Mothma's feet and go with Ahsoka. What can she possibly accomplish by staying behind ?

Let me make it clear again that I don't hate this show. I still believe that Dave is the Heir to the Empire. Maybe all my questions will be answered once we reach the end of the show. But at this moment the show is not taking me along on the journey I hoped it would be.

Well, the fuse is lit and I expect there will be an explosion of sorts next week.

The tension and build up is again what keeps the ball rolling. You are given just enough to be on the edge yet don't get bored. The acting was really great. You could see the doubt rising in Kino about what will happen once you reach the end of your sentence. We saw a very dark side of Dedra interrogating Bix. And Syril is about to break (with that mother, who could blame him ?). He will be a major player in the story I think. And the result could be devastating.

We discover that Val is Mon's cousin. Not a huge surprise but I still found it interesting how the connections are revealed. I found the scene in the Senat Chamber with Mon especially depressing as it shows again a connection to our time. I'm not used seeing that from Star Wars but they are doing it right and I like that. And althought it was different in a way, it reminded me of Padmé speaking in that same Chambers:

"So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause."

which I think is one of the best quotes out of Star Wars. And the scene now seems to be picking up on that liberty is now really dead.

I wonder when they will discover that they already have Andor in custody. Probably after the break. But it makes sense that in a system like the Empire such details get lost in the amount of information at hand. Althought I found the reference "he was shaven and had money and the rebels on Adhani were shaven, too" a bit ridiculous.

Told you they won't show us Spock until the end. The whole episode did not strung a chord with me. Another step sideways instead of forward. I am not surprised Hugh is back, always suspected he would be. They never introduced another doctor. Can't say I care much for the fact or how they did it. The whole explanation was a bit too far-fetched. Plus they milked they whole situation a bit too much. The whole ship is falling apart but again and again they went into all-out "let's explain it to death mode". At some point I was yelling "get the f*** out of there already".

I am somewhat surprised that Section 31 is so out in the open. Tyler walks around displaying his badge to everyone and it seems obvious that everyone knows about them. Kinda weird for a covert ops unit. And I am not just saying that because of continuity. Maybe they were operating like that in this timeframe and where disbanded later, at least officially ?

And Giorgiou is so full of shit. Who in his right mind would ever trust her ?

Best character this season by a wide margin is Pike. He at least seems to be a chip off the old Starfleet block.

So, the most interesting bit of the story is the fact, that Q is dying. But this is but a flicker amongst a chaos of nonsense. Even this fact doesn't seem to be related to the main arc.

But we get to see the long awaited first meeting between Q and Guinan. In the cellar of a secret FBI facility with Q posing as an agent (how did he get in there ? No one seemed to have a problem with him being there. He has no power so he works for the FBI ??). Only this isn't their real first meeting, no. That, according to Q, hasn't happened yet.

The facility is run by an agent who saw aliens visiting earth (Vulcans in the 1970s I suppose which is such a huge thing to add to Trek-lore, it shouldn't be done like that) who then spend his life to the pursuit of proofing that aliens exist. Now where have I heard that before ? Right, that's the kind of "original" writing today.

Now this seems to be a battle between Q and The Borg Queen, who is also still Jurati, who wants to "borgify" humanity. That I get. And Q ? He wants to escape from the timeline he himself created ? Renee is but a means to an end and the fact she's a Picard ancestor just an added extra. If they send anyone else instead of her (which clearly would happen as there are always backup crews) they wouldn't discover whatever she would ?

Meanwhile Rios finally get's to kiss the girl while Annika (she isn't Seven in this reality) and Raffi use every available moment during there hunt for the JurQueen to talk about their relationship.

Where is the cohersion in all that ? I don't know. But I think we'll get five minutes at the end of the season to explain it.

(If you want to tell me that I'm just a digruntled old Trekkie who clearly is way too stupid to understand and aprreciate the new Star Trek, please hit "Reply" now and leave a message after the beep)

More pieces of the puzzle but still no full picture developing.

It actually wasn't too bad. We see more of Q, which is a good thing given deLancies great performance. Concerning Q: Why would he rip himself of his own power in a scenario he himself created ? Doesn't make sense and suggest that someone else is involved ?

So, Laris isn't Laris but a supervisor like Gary Seven. That's an interesting angle that I hope get's further developed than just this short mentioning. I'm also getting some Edith Keeler vibes with Renee Picard in the sense that she was essential for the timeline. Interestingly Keeler's survival would have let probably to the same future as Renee not making the flight. Coincidence ?

The ICE storyline is hopefully done with and it was obviously just there to make a point. Let's leave it at that.

I don't like the Jurati plot because I don't like Jurati. And I'm dissapointed in how they used the Borg Queen so far. But that's just me personally.

Bringing in Brent Spiner as another Soong ancestor is a nice angle that, in a way, gives more depth. Althought I fear he's just a tool here. And Isa Briones finally got to make her appearance in this timeline, too.

One thing that pains me to say a bit is that it feels that Patrick Stewart seems exhausted in almost every scene he's in. It could be intentional in how he plays Picard as a fragile old man. I hope it is because otherwise it would mean it's too much for him. Which could be normal given his age but makes me wonder about his involvement in season 3.

So, I got this book for my birthday called "The Circle". The Story sounded interesting but to be honest I struggled through every page and tossed it away about half way through because I couldn´t stand that stupid, naive, onedimensional and brainwashed character of Mae that sucked up every bit of that corporate crap she´s been served without even as much as a little doubt. (it´s much worse in the book). I mean how stupid can one be ? OK, I´ll take that back I know such people myself.
Anyway, now they made it into a movie and I thought "well, at least I could see how it ends". The plot is still interesting and it is something we all should think about because it is already beginning to happen. Like in real life we are sold BS about the benefits and while at least here they are showing some of the dark sides they make nothing out of it in the end. Yes the villains are exposed but instead of The Circle being shut down the writer/author sells us the same BS again that everything is fine. We will reform The Circle and make it a benefical for society. Like someone mentioned before: If the leaders are watched too why complain ?

So the biggest flaws of the story are rooted in the book. You needn´t bother watching it really. The cast is wasted on this. And the author of the book wasted an opportunity to write something great out of a good initial idea. Instead of criticism he said "don´t worry there are supposed to be bumps in the road but everything will be fine in the end". And that´s when you start to worry.

This wasn't quite the beginning I waited for a whole year. It had way to much action for action's sake. Oh, and way too short for a season premiere.

Started good though. I thought at first this would be some kind of flashback to when Din got his helmet. The monster fight did absolutely nothing other then sugar coat CGI. But we find out what will be the quest for this season: Redemption.

The Navarro part was OKish. I had kind of feared one of the pirates would turn out to be Hondo. Like I expected they explain Cara away with one sentence. Shame that she's no longer there as she really was a great character with potential. Great idea bringin back IG88. We'll see how this plays out.

The space battle was again just showcasing CGI, which does look great, but really did nothing then add action. I kind of fear those pirates will be along for the ride this year.

Din's meeting with Bo Katan was interesting and I hope we see a lot of her this year.

The ONE thing that had my blood pumping were the creatures that Grogu saw in Hyperspace. Those were purgill, no ? Now that's an interesting thing to show us.

Still, the pieces are in place and I'm exited for the story to unfold.

The movie is very well made. Everything from the sets to the costumes and the acting is, in typical Ridley Scott matter, flawless.
However the way the story is told is not to my liking. You have about 45-50 mins of content but, due to the multiple perspective way of storytelling, you have to watch it three times. It's a "he said, she said" that in the end isn't proven one way or the other because, let's face it, "God has spoken" and "an honest man can't die" is as stupid as "you can't get pregnant from a rape because if you don't enjoy intercourse you can't get pregnant. That's sience"
And there lies the biggest issue I have - the movie criticizes a whole society for there misogynistic ways but like with the above that was how it was. Women were property just like men could be. Or what do you thing all the folk working for those nobles were ? From our moral point of view this was wrong but pointing a finger back 700 years in time is easy to do.
Well, it's not a political forum here and I think I will attract comments with what I said no matter what.
The actual duel at the end was great, very well filmed, with the instense and brutality you imagine had to be there in a fight for ones honor to the death. But after sitting through more than two hours it wasn't enough to save the movie in my eyes.

Still processing what I've just watched. Satisfied ? Can't say I am.

It would have been better had Picard really died. And I mean that with all the respect and love I have for the character and the actor. What sense does it make to have an emotional last scene and even showing how they all deal with his death and then, è voila, he's back. Then come up with a bunch of explanations why he's still old and why he will die because, that's clearly what he wants. I know he wasn't about to die with a second season already confirmed (althought right now I think it will be a long time before that happens) or that someone else would play a younger version of him (Tom Hardy, anyone ?).

The battle between the Romulans and the flowers really looked awesome but the stand-off with the Federation was a bit of an overkill. To many ships for a TV screen, they were literally just dots. A little bit too much of a wow-factor. And, like the cavalry always does, they arrived in the nick of time. The whole solution of all the problems presented at this point was to easy as everything just conveniently falls into place. They get into the compound, Soong sees the memory and has a little thingy to just shut Sutra down. I expected a little bit more creativity.

All bad then ? No. The scenes between Picard and Data were really great for an old time TNG fan. And even the conversion Picard had with Jurati (who ultimately redeemed herself) about what it means to live - I liked that very much and would have loved to see more of that in general.

The whole story itself would have been great for a 2 1/2 hour (final) TNG movie. Because that is what it felt like in the end. It tries to appeal to a larger audience while using the lore but ignoring the Vision of Star Trek.

A very good episode altogether. I like how they were really starting to become a crew and work together for a common goal. Not that it lasted very long concerning Soji. Jurati probably has something planed as betraying Picard now, again, would practically cancel out her character developement. I like the short scene between Raffi and "JL". Having read the book by Una McCormack (I know - novels aren't considered canon) it fits in very well.
The idea of introducing a powerful ancient AI lifeform sounds interesting but is a huge adition to the Trek mythology and I wonder if there could be a relation to something that was mentioned before (no, I have no idea myself but I remember there being android civilizations mentioned in TOS, no ?). Sutra seems to be more made out of Lore's "DNA" the way she's acting. The rest of them were too easily persuaded. And the look of the synth colony was bad. A bit like a 70s hippie comunity I would say.
There are still a lot of open answers and I hope we will know some of them by next weeks finale. I don't expect those ancient synths to come and sweep the floor with Romulans as that would be too simple. Maybe the cliffhanger will be right in the middle of the battle a la Best of Both Worlds.

That was good enough for me to want a second season. I must say, though, you could have done all of that as a movie if you cut out the unnessessary stuff. But that's a side note.
The opening minutes had me a bit worried. You leave on a cliffhanger and than come back with THAT !? That was almost SW movie quality of late (yes, sarkasm). Luckily it turned around fast and we got some really good action sequences (Stormtroopers really are the redshirts of Star Wars) along with some more revalations about the Mandalorian and The Little Guy. Personally I don't think he's a Yoda clone. He sure is the same species and maybe we will now, in another season that is, learn more about them. I remember reading, a little while back, about Lucas' original story ideas for another trilogy and maybe this is going in this direction. Who knows. I'm not really in favor of showing us Mandos face. It had to be done at that point but it should have been done off-camera or maybe shot from behind. It takes a little bit away from the myterious side of the character. The ending came a bit too fast and convinient and you could have been rather certain that Gideon wasn't dead.
In any case like I said, I am looking forward to season two.

I said it before and I say it again: Bernthal really deserves an award for his portrayal of Frank Castle. Not that the rest of the cast is bad, even Amber Rose had some good moments and Ben Barnes rose to the next level here. But what Bernthal brings to the table to bring Castle to life is a mayor part why this show is what it is.

Now, on it's own season two was good but compared to the first it's seconds best. There isn't anything major wrong with it, just a lot of little things.
The whole religous fanatics arc with the gay son who should become president. The Russian blackmailers - all that is overused. Amy is pretty much a noisance thoughout the season and even at the end I don't know if I like her or not. And why even bother with Beth if he doesn't go back to her. That was somewhat wasted.
I also didn't like that love story between Russo and Dr. Crazy. You could see this coming from the first time you saw her and I wish that just for once writers could resist writing this stuff. I never felt sympathy for Billy on his path for redemption. He's a bad guy and all I want is see him dead. There is no way in my book where he comes out of this on the good side.
Madani was better here than in the first season and I think it was fitting that, althought Frank was the one ultimately killing Russo, it was actually she who did the job. Makes sense in a way that Frank was at peace with what he did to Russo and would not have come after him again while for Madani there was an open wound. What I didn't get though is that she quits DHS ("I am done with this") only to go to the CIA. Isn't that the same "this" ?
One of the positives was the character of John Pilgrim. Very well played by Josh Stewart. A dark and troubled soul much like Castle. His story arc was really interesting and the outcome was very satisfiying.
Like the first season it's not action all over. There are slow parts and oftentimes you wait eagerly for things to finally happen. But I must say the managed that well. Yes, it was sometimes annoying but never to the point where I became angry.
Well, ups and downs, positives and negatives aside I fear that we won't see another season of The Punisher. There is enough talk on the internet as to why that might be the case. At least we have somewhat closure with the ending of this season.

I really liked that episode. They are putting in some interesting things and we finally find out what´s up with Ash althought it's not a huge surprise. But that is no complain. They showed those flashbacks so that everyone knew what has happened and figure it out, now they brought it to light. Prolonging that would be useless. That´s good writing from where I stand. And Tilly mentioning that Stamets called her captain once ? I don´t remember that but they seem to be pretty certain in what they are building up.

I´ve read some weird theories about what is going on here but the one thing I'll always come back is Lorca. Is he from the Mirror Universe in the first place ? Trying to convince Burnham to bomb the rebels, his hesitance to go back to Discovery and finally that look on his face when he saw Georgiou. Plus if you go back to episode 10 when they made all those jumps you can see Lorca entering OVERRIDE, LORCA, G. SPORE JUMP 133— UNKNOWN. I did not notice that I found it online. And I just remembered that Hoshi Sato declared herself Empress in ENT which should be chronologically before this. Does this mean she and Georgiou are related ? Lot´s to consider but I must say I'm intrigued to find out where this is going.

The appeal of a biopic lies in the fact you want to know about the person it depicts. I'm a massive car nut, not necessarily Ferrari, but I still want to know about him because he sure was a carismatic figure. What I don't get is why every filmmaker today thinks the first thing they need to show us about a person is his sex life.
Another problem with biopics is you have about two hours and you need to pick a part of your topics life to show the viewer. Again, your choice falls to the problems resulting from his liasons. The movie opens with the explanation how Enzo and Laura built Ferrari in 1947 out of the rubbles of WWII. Then you jump 10 years forward to the point where they already are in financial trouble. I would have much rather watched how they built it.
Now, the racing scenes were ok. But they have done it much better decades before. The accident at the Mille was a real shocking, though. The violence shown in those pictures are in contrast to the rest of the movie, which was rather soft.
Acting was decent althought I agree the accents were too thick. Let everyone speak normal englisch, that way the viewer can assume they speak Italian but it's translated for us. Doing it like this gives the impression that everyone in Italy speaks accented english. Minor detail maybe, but it really felt cliched.
Overall an OK movie but if I'm honest I wouldn't recommended it to someone who wants to know about Ferrari. And for a casual viewer it's too generic. Could have been a fictional story altogether.