While the trailers and adverts might make this seem like it's a happy romp, it's not. Believe me it's not. This, in my opinion, is a very sad film. It took me by surprised me and made me remember aspects of my childhood I don't normally keep at the forefront of my mind. This is despite the comedy and the happy joy-joy attitude seen for about 50% of the film. I really related to Riley, so much so that I actually cried quite a bit at the theatre. I felt a bit embarrassed but I really couldn't help it. It wasn't the acts in the film that made me sad, it was the explanation afterwards. Riley's motivations. Hearing it in words after seeing everything broke me. A Disney film hasn't made me cry like that ever.
You absolutely have to see Inside Out. But, don't go into it looking for it to put a smile on your face after a bad day. It's a really emotional ride. However, the message in the end is really worth it. It's a message that we should really get across to the children of today. I wish the message being put forward by this movie was being aimed at children back when I was a kid. It would have really helped. It would have indeed.
The whole theatre burst into spontaneous cheers several times, and the whole theatre completely went silent - people literally stopped chewing their popcorn - on numerous occasions.
Like you've probably already heard, the movie REALLY is a phenomenal throwback to the original trilogy, with an extra oomph and insane amounts of creativity and new found inspiration that will take the franchise to a whole new level.
The characters are three-dimensional, it's nowhere near as strictly black and white, good vs. evil like in most of the previous movies, and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren is the best example of that. Hands down, the best villian to appear in the Star Wars franchise other than Darth Vader.
Daisy Ridley & John Boyega are thrilling to watch, the old cast members, popping in during the movie were just as fun to watch.
J.J. Abrams and the writers somehow managed to create a plot that was very confined in space and time, yet they effortlessly captured the grand universe that is Star Wars with some pretty great throwbacks to the old trilogy plot-wise. Some might argue that it's lack of creativity and unnecessary repetition, but I thought it was a wonderful homage. It flowed naturally and there really was no dull moment.
Absolutely phenomenal. :)
The ending was later game of thrones stupid.
Daemon running out there like an idiot, and the dozens of archers firing at him miss, again, again, and again, and again, and again, and then oh now finally they hit.
All the while he's fighting against opponent, after opponent, after opponent, against multiple opponents, as the crab feeder sends out dozens of his men.
It's just stupid. And his dragon stayed back because? No reason. Could have been attacking the archers.
And it turns out Daemon didn't do this solely to try and kill the crab feeder, but to try and bait him out so he/his allies can kill him and his army?
But wait. Allies said they had around 700 men. They're in a war. So crab feeder must have hundreds or around that number. Crab feeder wouldn't be stupid enough to send out a big force just for daemon, especially because he was wounded by arrows and on the ground, and still being attacked by them. Plus, we saw him send out what two dozen of his warriors? Against Daemon. For some reason.
Then when allies show and dragon attack, Crab Feeder and his allies don't go back in the caves? Which was their usual tactic each time for literally years during the war.
Even though they're in a losing war, Daemon and his allies win at the end.
None of this makes sense.
Writing quality across the whole episode is lower than the previous two, and we have now reached later game of thrones level of stupidity.
Would Daemon have really done that stupid run? Oh and we also see more of his dishonorable nature by nearly beating a messenger to death, and then betraying the white flag of truth. Even though he at least seemed to have some honorable aspects to him in previous episodes, even though he was brutal. Was this all in the book? The stupid suicide run, the dishonorable actions. And was it in the book when Daemon charged right in the middle of battle on his dragon and got pounded by arrows and almost died? He got lucky because one went into his shoulder. This is stupid. Even on the run he could have been killed by the first volley of arrows. I'd be very surprised if any of this was in the book.
Edit: And we don't get enough info about things regarding the status of armies, and the numbers we do get don't make sense. So Valeryon's forces have 700 men left? Eh? That low? And you're waging a war? Been in a war for years? How many forces does Daemon have? Does he have any left? He had goldcloaks right? For some reason. I guess he had so much of their loyalty is what it said in previous episodes. Yeah i guess they just followed him to Dragonstone and then into war. Where are they? Are they still a part of his army? If not, then it's just him? Why did the Valeryon guy say Daemon is helping them lose the war, he has a dragon. He's consistently helping, especially so if he's contributing his goldcloak forces, and i assume that's all Daemon would have, since we don't know if he's the lord of anywhere and able to conscript people.
So many questions like that. All through the episode about things. When an episode is a mixed bag like this, you start to see and question many other things. I still enjoyed the episode overall though.
Edit 2: Since a lot of people seem to agree with me, i thought i'd go into more detail. The show hasn't completely broken down yet like later Game of Thrones, nor has the logic been twisted too much like middle Game of Thrones. The previous 2 episodes i thought were really good, but this episode you could tell had a different writer, and that's not good, because it makes you less immersed, like sometimes you feel these characters shouldn't be saying what they're saying. Contrast that to Game of Thrones season 1, and i couldn't tell who was writing what episode, as it was good across the board. So early into this season and i'm seeing a mismatch in writing is not a good sign.
I think we have a lot of interesting characters in this show and i'm looking forward to continuing. I'd rate this episode a 6.5/10, but 6 or 7 is valid to me. Most of this episode i thought was pretty good, but there were too many things for me to choose 6. The mismatch in writing, the timeskip, the brattiness of Rhaenyra, the white deer heavy handed symbolism, the end of the episode and the anticlimactic nature of the crabfeeder. The king feeling a bit too lost in his soul, when he's supposed to be king and has been king for a long time, and has a queen and children. I understand the reasoning, i just don't buy it much. But i still like the many conversations, politics and intrigue in the show, and the characters and story.
Heavy with style but lacking in substance. That's the sum of Peaky Blinders.
Peaky leans hard on slow motion shots and a modern punk/indie rock soundtrack that you'll either love or hate. I actually like the choice of music but how many times do we need to see someone walk past a fire breathing factory with a cigarette in hand and punk rock blaring in the background before some actual character development happens?
Cillian Murphy is excellent but aside from one or two other characters the rest of them are very one dimensional. You see all the faces in the background pic on this page? Less than half of those faces have any real narrative in the show. Because of this you are left with just a couple of prominent figures that tend to be overused
The story-lines are never all that compelling either unfortunately, style wins out here as well.
I thought the first season was decent and I was curious to see if they would improve for the second. When it was announced that Tom Hardy would be joining the cast I was pretty excited. Sadly his role isn't featured that much so his impact was minimal.
I see people trying to compare Peaky Blinders with Boardwalk Empire and I just don't see it, Boardwalk had compelling story-lines and an ensemble cast it actually used. Here's hoping season 3 will be different.
I'm exhausted. This tension, the politics, the intrigue, even to the last second. So much is happening in this episode. So much concealed under such elegant garments.
In one way I look forward to the finale next week, however I'm not sure how they are going to fit what I was anticipating to be in this episode into the last, unless it is a 3hr episode, but I think it won't be such.
The other way I'm looking forward to the finale, is I no longer will need to invest all my emotion and attention in this concentration of spectacle and the craft of each Actor performing to perfection their role, and appreciating each word, glance, and interaction with their counterparts in such a magnificent, stunning location.
I'll be ready for this finale but until then I'll be soaking in what I've watched today. What a pleasure it is to witness what the Arts can deliver if given a proper opportunity.
Thank you to the Creators, Actors, Crew, and Those That have painstakingly brought this masterpiece to us.
The conundrum has set in... I desperately want to see the last episode now, but I don't want it to be the last show. 10/10
Initial Reaction
The Good
• The sets and world design are hands down some of the best the series has to offer. Really above and beyond on how they could expand the amazing lore.
• Music is also good. Mixing with the old theme still carries on here from the previous film, and it works.
• The opening. It's amazing, truely a fantastic opening to what seemed to be such a promising movie. The best opening to any Wizarding World film.
• New creature designs are spectacular. Beautiful to behold.
The Bad
• The plot is awful. This is a set up film. It goes nowhere. Having a prequel means to expand upon something we don't know the ending too. Or at least be interesting enough to care about something else that we don't know the finale too. This movie does neither.
• Zero stakes.
• Predictable if you know how they screwed up characters.
• There is a serious lacking of motivation from every character. Except Dumbledore possibly.
• Continuity errors that the first film justified, but here they just forget about.
• Acting is ok but I really didn't care about these characters they are trying to make me love. The first film made me care. Here, it's just like they aren't the same people.
• Though, I will commend the dark tone it carries for the first half or so. Its comedy that it tried to slot it, didn't work at all.
Other
No post-credit scenes after the film finishes.
Conclusion
This is without a doubt, the worst film so far in the franchise. I say so far, because apparently there are going to be 3 more movies. Which I doubt after this. Truely a disappointment as I am left dissatisfied.
Wednesday is entertaining casual watching, but not something I'm likely to re-watch. Maybe my hopes were too high with all the big names involved. I was expecting an Addams Family show with a lot of Tim Burton influence but we got a CW teenage drama with Addams Family characters and barely any Burton influence. Jenna Ortega is carrying that show because it is mediocre. It would have been better as a movie. It's very much a Netflix generic show, nothing spectacular. There are definitely good parts to it, but cannot be compared to the classics.
As I said, Jenna Ortega is note perfect as Wednesday. She captured the essence of what the character was all about. However, I found her a bit too "the new girl who's not like the other girls in those YA movies/shows", which annoyed me a lot. A school full of 'outcasts' and everyone but Wednesday acts like your regular high schooler she looks down at. And it feels like the writing started to slip on the second half because Wednesday just going around accusing people made her seem kind of dumb.
Catherine Zeta Jones and Luis Guzman have zero chemistry, and I'm sorry but Luis Guzmán just does not have charm as Gomez. The family, minus Wednesday, is miscast to be fair. Pugsley was there as decoration. Morticia is uninteresting. Genuinely shocking how little effort was put in for the supporting characters vs Wednesday, I have to imagine it was the script and direction. The male characters are especially bland, I got so tired of the back and forth with Xavier and Tyler. It felt like almost all the relationships between characters were told to us and not shown to us. Everything had to happen for the plot but it effected character's development.
A lot of the dialogue lands so flat, "Why do u look so pale?", "Wednesday always looks half dead" - like I get what they're trying to do but it's so on the nose, it doesn't seem organic.
All in all, Wednesday was OK for light watching but I wouldn't set up your expectations too high, it definitely gets better as the show goes on which is a good sign but it doesn't feel so much like an 'Addams' show, and it lacks the screwball charm of the originals. The Addams family as an ensemble unapologetically juxtaposed against normal society seems to work better than yet another gothy, supernatural high school drama. I just feel the need to say that for those who may have been looking for something darker in tone.
"Sara and Jess not twins but are one singular person in a split personality. There are TONS of clues to this.
1) The hair color is an obvious choice. It plays a role later, but to tell the difference, we see two dramatic changes. Could just be cinematic ease, however it does play a role later.
2) She always says that when her sister makes bad choices, she has to come and save her. Sara is the passive personality, and "comes forward" during times of high stress or trauma. This split originated during the trauma of the parents murder/ suicide. Sara said she never saw the scene, so when Jess faces that sadness it sparks Sara to the rescue as Sara can hide behind the idea that she never saw the trauma. One very specific case of this is the second suicide attempt. Sara said she had not heard from Jess and could not reach her on the phone, so she had 911 check on her. You call 911 locally. You do not call it across states, so Sara called 911 when Jess took the pills to save her. Another thing is the use of pills, which someone dealing with this level of scarring would have high amounts of medication, like the ones seen in her bag. If we were to look closely at the pills, I bet there would be heavy medications for schizophrenia.
3) When Sara tells Rob that she needs to go save Jess, Rob looks like he has dealt with this before. What he sees is that Jess has relapsed into Sara, and is doing his best to keep her grounded. By "sleeping on it," he is trying to buy time for Jess to take over, but in the morning she has all ready left. One small aspect is we never see her in a plane, only in an apartment and then in Japan. Jess was actually in Japan teaching when she had a snap, and Rob did not have to fly to catch up to her. It may even be possible that Rob is her psychiatrist, and the apartment was his office. More on him later.
4) When she dreams about Jess in a tent, you see two silhouettes, but when she opens only 1 person is in the tent, which is Jess.
5) Sara knew exactly which direction Jess' tent is in. We never see the two together ever, except in pictures or during the split event. Jess was lost for 5 days, yet when she runs to the rescue party at the end she was at her tent.
6) When Sara searches her apartment, she looks at all of the hair products (which I bet hair dye is one of them)
7) When she sees a picture of Jess on Aiden's phone, it was actually a picture of her he had taken for the article. She does not recognize it is her because she views herself as blonde, but Jess is the real person so any picture would be of Jess and not of her perception of blonde hair.
8) The Sara Teasdale poem
"And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone."
Translation: No one knows about her splits warring for control, and no one will care about the Sara's death as she is not real. Neither bird or tree relates to the forest gaining another spirit upon the shedding of the sadness. When she awakes at dawn, she barely knows the war took place as she never acknowledged she was split, but she does scarcely know she is gone.
9) When she explains the twin link, its a sound or buzz, and when the other is dead, it is silent. That is the quiet in her head after the split no longer occupies her subconsciousness. In this case, both personalities have a reality, but only one exists. The noise is the presence of the other personality in her subconscious.
10) When Jess comes out of the forest, Rob says "Sara?" They have opposite hair, so he should recognize that it is Jess. When she says nothing, he changes the name to Jess. She then answers. To further this, he strongly asks her if she has seen Sara. Knowing Sara is the trauma, he needs to know if Jess has regained control. When she says she is still in the forest, Rob knows it may mean Sara has been eliminated from Jess. She also says "she came to save me," which I think is when she realizes that Sara took control. More than likely, Jess understands their is a Sara, but is unable to control when she takes over.
So, to sum up the story. Jess moves to Japan and takes on a job as a teacher, but has been dealing with this mental health and trauma from the child's view of the horror. She knows the forest is where people "find themselves" and can "face their sadness." She had a tent, brought along reading material as she is their for a walkabout to finally face her trauma. During this, Sara takes over while she is in the forest. Two things could happen here. Since the story is told from Sara's view, most of the Sara adventure is just a completely false reality happening while Jess is in the woods, or Sara completely takes over, changes clothes (why Jess' clothes are hanging in the woods) and goes back to her psychiatrist in which she believes she is married to. Then the story goes as we follow Sara through backtracking to Jess. Jess said she was lost for 5 days, meaning she was in the woods for 5 days, but that is also how long we have followed Sara.
The story comes to an end in the ranger's cabin when she kills Aiden, and then is faced with the basement scene. She protects Jess from seeing the scene, telling her to not look, but then Sara sees the scene. Sara would not know what this looks like, as she said she never saw it but the scene was obvious to her. This is where Sara is forced to face the fact that she saw the horrible scene, and cannot hide between a split that is a witness to it and one that is safe from it. She then finally, once and for all, faces it, by literally asking her dad why, and then cutting him away from her. This of course is the suicide of Sara, but it is the killing of the split, leaving Sara to die in the basement where she was created. After the suicide, Jess awakens, and both can be seen running parallel to each other, indicating the return of control by Jess. This is the moment where they pass each other in the main control of Jess. Jess comes forward as Sara is running, causing Jess to run. She eventually emerges from the forest, having faced her trauma, and left behind a soul for the forest to keep. The Yuri are the remnants of the sadness left in the forest by the people who faced their sadness, regardless of suicide or success.
Nichi could not handle the sadness of losing someone under his guide, and this is why he is now susceptible to seeing the spirits, and Sara comes for him in the end."
Trivia
+Near the end, Stanley delivers a soliloquy about losing seven pounds and then bows his head and raises his right fist. This scene is a homage to two black American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who won gold and bronze medals in the 1968 Olympics. They generated controversy by raising their fists while on the medal stand as the national anthem was being played.
+We find out Pam's weight in this episode. According to the scale calculations, the entire team weighed 2,336 lbs when Pam was on the scale and 2,210 lbs when she got off. So Pam weighs 126 lbs.
+When Jim visits Pam at her Residential Advisor room, Jim misdirects the cameraman away and closes the door. This is the only time where you hear the "documentary" camera crew, namely a sigh.
+Holly's real first name is Hollis.
+When Holly is shown at her desk, right before she finds Kelly making her juice, you can see her name plate revealing her real first name to be Hollis.
+There is a point where Jim is talking about having to spend his lunch with different people while Pam is away, during this time Michael is shown without a goatee, which he has had the entire episode because Ryan has one. Michael is shown afterwards leading a meeting with his goatee still there.
+It is revealed via Holly's whiteboard that the remaining Dunder Mifflin branches in operation are: 1) Scranton, PA; 2) Nashua, NH; 3) Camden, NJ; 4) Utica, NY; 5) Buffalo, NY; 6) Albany, NY; 7) Yonkers, NY; 8) New York City Corporate Center.
+As Pam is running over to Jim at the gas station, she comments that "Montclair would have been closer" (as in, to meet halfway). Montclair is a real city in northern New Jersey popular for its arts centers and restaurants.
Goofs
Continuity
+Michael's goatee disappears in a lunchroom scene and returns for a weigh in. He later shaves it off.
+Pam comments to Jim at the gas station that: "Montclair would have been closer, so you have to buy lunch". This is untrue. Montclair, NJ, is 1 hour/ 50 minutes away from Scranton, PA (Jim) - but only 55 minutes from midtown Manhattan (Pam). That is not at all halfway between the two locations. Newton, NJ, would have been a better compromise.
Spoilers
Jenna Fischer actually kept the engagement ring that her future husband, Jim, gave to her in this episode. She has been seen wearing it sometimes in public and in interviews.
Walking out of Warcraft, the overriding feeling is one of a missed opportunity - this is by no means a disaster and there is plenty of potential here. The scope of the film is impressive and it's clear there is a lot of world-building going on here for future sequels. Part of the problem, however, is there is simply too much plot going on with not enough time devoted to a central thread - the director's admission that some 40 minutes have been cut is not surprising. This is a film that has ambition to be an epic, with many threads introduced to carry over to potential future films and glimpses of many different settings in this new world, but consequently there is a rushed feel to the central plot of this film with not enough time devoted to developing the relationships and motivations of the central characters, Thus plot developments and twists whilst potentially interesting do not have the emotional impact desired making it difficult to really care about what happens. It is a shame because what there is here works surprisingly well - Jones' ambition is to ensure the audience is invested in both sides of the conflict rather than the obvious human side. Perhaps there may well be a future director's cut that restores some much needed character work and slows down the pace a little.
Gosh, I hate plot armor. It's a motherf*** pyroclastic flow! Yet, all main protagonists escape (more or less) unharmed. Fantasy world or not - I don't feel treated in a serious way. They added the eruption only because it looks good and it was a great cliffhanger last episode. It looks awesome indeed, but it's all show and no substance. They refuse to go through with the inevitable consequences. Cowards! Who says that everyone needs to live? (Bronwyn even saved her infamous Met Gala dress - no blood stains, no burns).
Likewise, I don't like the scene between Elrond and Prince Durin. They try to negotiate an alliance. They talk and talk and talk. But nothing results from all the dialogue and multiple episodes. Instead, another miracle/vision saves the story: leaf and metal tell you what to do. Why should I pay attention to all the dialogue, the characters, the father/son conflict, the character's needs, hopes and attitudes? In the end this part of the story is (pre-) determined by a miracle/vision. The Prince does what the leaf tells him. [They did something very similar back at the islands with Galadrial. All her behavior (and bossy misbehaviour) had no consequences whatsoever. In the end it was a vision (and again leaves) that suddenly forged an alliance between Numinor and Galadriel.] That's not good story telling.
The score is again back to mediocre. It was suitable for last episode. But it's annoying in this episode. Music just won't stop. It doesn't help that this is a boring orchestral score - couldn't they come up with something more unique? The music often subdues everything else. And when they chose to focus on actual noises it's totally over-dramatic (like when the boy draws his sword when the Orcs approach. That's not how a sword sounds like when you draw it out the scabbard). I'm not even sure whether the dialogues between the Prince and King or between Galadriel and the boy are actually any good - I'm just annoyed by the melodramatic music during these scenes.
I still don't understand the whole Halbrand story. How did he end up as Lord/King? He used to be a random guy on a raft, a drunk prisoner, a thief and showed interest in becoming a blacksmith. Galadriel noticed that he can pick up a sword elegantly. That's all? That told her that he's a capable soldier? And now it feels like he's somehow (almost) the most capable soldier in the ranks of a FOREIGN army? [Strange enough that Galadriel - previously hated by almost everyone in Numinor - is suddenly accepted as a peer in battle.] In a very expensive armor tailor-made for him? Even a Lord? A King? And nobody questions this? People asked King Charles III. after his proclamation "who voted for you?", and I ask: what's Halbrand's merit or legitimacy? Is that something we have to accept because it was predicted in yet another vision (I somehow missed this part if there was such an omen)? His legitimacy surely can't be based on the coat of arms he carries around, can it? Anyone could have picked this up.
And I still don't know why nobody is alerting the elves. They deal with the drwarves. They deal with the bad omens they observe (like the dying tree). They send Elrond on away missions. I understand this. But all of this is not yet closely connected to the main story. Why does nobody send a messenger to report that Galadriel is back and she and Arondir fight Orcs and witnessed the "birth of Mordor"? Wouldn't that represent the more pressing issues for the elves? Remember: Arondir wanted to alert the other elves when he was caught in that trench. Has he forgotten what his plan was? Not saying that the metal/forge story might not eventually become handy in a war with Sauron and his Orcs - but shouldn't this story connected with the events in the Southlands aka Mordor? And wouldn't that help to convince the dwarf King to help them? It feels like no message is relayed simply because the writers wanted another episode to tell the father/son conflict. Why all that conflict between the King and his son when we already know that the common external threat represented by Sauron will eventually unite elves and dwarfs? It's all so predictable and artificially dragged out by not sending a messenger.
All what I said before sounds very negative. I still enjoy this episode. It's certainly not spectacular and lacks (like the whole show) complexity, but it's still nice to look at.
Prometheus: misfire or misunderstood?
Prometheus started life as a prequel to the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien, but during years of development grew into something bigger and relegated the xenomorph to an almost incidental. As a fan of the Alien and HR Giger’s Oscar winning effects (pieces adorn my walls, grace my shelves, my desk at work) I thought I would be disappointed with how it would be included; I was very wrong. See my shouts below on what I took away from the Alien aspect of the film.
Prometheus stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Logan Marshall-Green, with Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce. At its heart Prometheus tells the story of our search for answers as to who we are and where we came from, and is a film that the more you dig the more you take away from it.
I’ve been an admirer of Polish cinematographer Dariusz Wolski from as far back as The Crow and Dark City, however it is his work on Sweeney Todd that was my highlight. I have a new highlight. From the first frame to the last the film is simply gorgeous. He finds the detail in the sets and costumes and casts your eye over them in an unassuming way to let you find them yourself. I don’t think I blinked the entire length of the film.
The visual, practical and makeup effects are remarkable and need to be seen on the big screen at least once. I’ve heard criticism of Guy Pearce’s make up and find them unfounded. Comments that it looked like it belonged in a high school play are ridiculous, it has Oscar nom all over it. I think the issue more lies in the anticipation throughout the film of seeing him without it, forgetting that we already have among the viral material (The TED Talks was truly inspired).
So with all of the shiny out of the way, let’s wind our way through the film as a whole.
The film is dense with ideas but often disjointed and uneven with some pedestrian dialog and some questionable acting. Scott has confirmed that the home release will be 20 minutes longer and have 30 minutes of deleted scenes; that alone speaks volumes. There are scenes and interactions that end abruptly and others that clearly pick up from something we just didn’t see. One character goes from being a bit put out to losing himself at the bottom of a bottle the next time we see him, with nothing between. You can often feel when they occur because they are quite jarring.
Much has been made of the thinly realised and ineffectual crew. My hope is that a solid portion of those 20 minutes gives them a little more flesh, however I feel it is going to be in the deleted scenes. They will still often make the same stupid decisions, but a bit more depth to them might make it a little clearer why.
Michael Fassbender owns this film with his realisation of the nuanced David. Rapace, Theron and Pearce are great in their roles, but I think I would have been fine with any of the others being recast with the exception maybe of Sean Harris’ underdeveloped Fifield.
So how, with all of that, is Prometheus still so damn good? Ridley Scott. The film is bursting at the seams trying to contain itself, you can feel it. I don’t know of another Director that could have achieved the vision Scott has shown us, he just should have shown us over 3 hours.
Prometheus works on a number of levels depending on how much of the surface you care to scratch away. If you just want a Sci-Fi action film with aliens. Tick. If you are looking for more, it’s there; it doesn’t spoon feed you and you will need to pay close attention, read between the lines and deduce. It’s a movie that I’ve been thinking about for a week after seeing it only once and can’t wait to don my 3D glasses and take the ride again.
So, Prometheus: misfire or misunderstood? I think a little from column A and a lot from column B
Totally facehugged
I could repeat my comments from last episode, but I won't do this. In a nutshell: it looks awesome, but the story and most characters are mediocre. I still enjoy it but it's certainly not great.
Let me talk about something else instead. Tolkien's work and Jackson's adaptation have always received their fair share of criticism regarding ethnic and racial stereotypes. One example is the problematic Wagner-ish portray of dwarfs. I won't go into this. Enough was said about this. In this show, they added Hobbit "ancestors". Hobbits were never funny and a a big fat Irish stereotype. Now they added this element of "migration". How could you not think that they are inspired by Irish Travellers? The Harfoots have other traits allegedly ascribed to their culture: they too love music, gather around campfires, organize themselves in families and live at the edge of society in relative poverty. It's like costume artists were fans of The Kelly Family. I'm not even saying that only negative stereotypes are reverberated: the Harfoots are too likable to immediately incite prejudice and discrimination against Travellers. But I wonder why they always do that in this franchise? Why do they often use a discriminated ethnic or racial group as a template and why do they choose to portray them in a very stereotypical way? They could have designed this people very differently very easily. Who's next? Gypsies? Pygmy peoples? Sámi? Eurasian nomads aka "horse people"? It doesn't really bother me though. (I'm not a snowflake and I realize that fiction is different from reality). This was mostly an academic remark. But I think, it was worth to be mentioned. Instead, very interestingly though, the show is (totally unfairly) criticized by some for including (as in: inclusion) black actors. Really? It makes you think whether "our" value system is well calibrated.
PS: I knew it. Yolandi Visser is one of these weird, otherworldly, pale elves. These guys are elves, right?
[9.5/10] Holy hell. This was incredible. I love that after A New Hope pulled a lot from classic Japanese films like Yojimbo and The Hidden Fortress, the franchise is coming full circle. Japanese artists are now translating the tropes of Star Wars back into a feudal Japan setting, and it could hardly be cooler.
The art here is just gorgeous. This is the most beautiful blend of 3D animation with 2D flourishes since Klaus. The choice to go black and white, with only electronic things like lightsabers, droid lights, and whistling birds appear in color creates a striking aesthetic. And the design choices are downright stunning, from straw-covered R2 units, to the force-sensitive combatants and their artistically-conceived hair and clothing, to vehicles, weapons, and whole species reimagined with an ancient Japanese flair.
The basic premise works just as well. The notion of a Sith warlord coming to harass a humble village, while a calm ronin springs into action to save the innocent from their oppressors, fits wonderfully into this new rendition of Star Wars. That’s no shock. Episode IV reinterpreted a number of standard ronin tropes into a space setting, and watching those tropes reabsorbed and remixed back into a feudal setting is a thrill.
The action here is top notch. This is one of the best lightsaber battles we’ve seen in ages, with stellar choices in the blocking, shot-selection, and choreography. I love the little choices like letting the “camera” focus on the Sith’s hood floating away in the wind while we only hear the sound of her clashing with the hero. There’s a real mood and atmosphere which adds to the epicness of the confrontation. Intensity in the pace, eye-catching poses, and clever shifts and ruses to get the upper hand all make this a stand out among Star Wars skirmishes.
I’m also a big fan of the texture to this one: little moments that don’t contribute that much to the fairly simple “story” but which add color and intrigue to the world the characters inhabit. A ten-year-old being the chief because his dad’s asleep or ran-off, the hunched tea-maker fixing the droid, the bounty hunters fighting back against the Sith are all little details, but make this world feel more alive and lived-in beyond the immediate story.
On the whole, this is one hell of a coming out party for Star Wars: Visions. I’ll confess, I’m not much of an anime afficionado. But “The Duel” is enough for even a relative neophyte like me to sit up and take notice.
Ok, let's begin from the easy part: Alicia Vikander as Gerda is the real main character in this movie, she's an amazing actress and her performance is really really good. And even though I really appreciate her performance, I think that point of view contributed to cheapen the movie's message.
Eddie Redmayme, well, I'm quite puzzled, because I loved him on "The Theory of Everything" and on "The Pillars of Earth" but here.. I was positive he would perform this character without falling into an offensive representation of transgender woman, I really hoped it, but at the end overcome clichés, stereotypes on "transvestites of 30s", on femininity, and women. I found it offensive because it's like the representation of a representation of what a man sees about women's way of move, act and think.
I really am disappointed by this movie because I find it dangerous: it does can be misunderstood and manipulated. I would have liked a better representation of context, because that would explain much: to society on 30s women's role was to procreate, to love a man and get married, to be quite shallow; this woman stuck inside a man's body tries to get accepted as woman, adapting to the common vision of that role, but eventually stops being herself, changes her way to move (copying other women), doing what she loves, and loving her wife instead of "bring outside" her true self.
On this movie gender identity and sexuality are mixed up and messed up...! No words! Shame! Shame! Shame!
Contextualization helps understanding and empathizing how confusing should have been being a transgender person those years, with no information, or scientific studies, and no psychological support on that path. The true feelings, and the story, are displayed by little and minimal clues and lines (and unaware people can miss them). Many elements and inattentions switched a prospective good movie to a dangerous message, which can be used by anti-LGBTQ+, transophobes, and populists, because the message passed can be that Einar was a man with some psicological issues and dissociative disorder (because starting a new life of course is talking on 3° person, getting rid of every passion, act litterally different, and switch your sexual orientation, is it?) who had this whim to fight for change his genitalia and died.
A woman is not a vagina, and a woman is not "less woman" if she is bisexual or lesbian, and being a transgender person doesn't mean that every problem is solved with an operation, there is an important and huge path made of self-acceptance, analysis, support, and operations (for those who decide to get it) is just the last step (and actually not really the last). Simplicism isn't always good, sensitive issues can't being tackled like this, expecially during periods in which it is still necessary educating people to awareness and respect. Making a movie in a superficial and approximate way "because this is the right time, it's the fashion" it's dangerous.
Really, the only reason for watching this movie is having the complete portrait of it, understanding critics and create a debate. And Alicia Vikander, I really love her acting, and she is beautiful; Gerda is a strong, independent woman, who loved her husband for who he really was and not for his body, and still continues - despite the difficulties to accept it - when he comes out as a transgender woman.
You love someone for who she is, not for her gender.
I think I was just as scared as James was when Alyssa left the police station to go to Clive's house.
The emotions were so high this season and I'm glad they went this way even though I wouldn't have minded it to have ended with Bonnie shooting them both (it was shocking and unexpected) but this happy ending made me tear up. It was beautiful and a nice message that things can work out in the end, even though of course both of these characters are scarred for life and in need of serious therapy (I love that Alyssa pointed that last one out herself).
I think that anyone who has endured trauma or felt depressed to the point of being numb could relate to Alyssa, the things she thought will hit home. They did for me and it's good, it's good that we see her struggle and in the end survive and able to 'ask' for help (when she says to James that she'll probably need therapy). It's a good message to put out there.
I'm glad they decided to leave it as this, there is no need for more seasons to drag a story out that it perfectly wrapped up now. It could've gone without the second season but I love that they did this season.
Update 9/22/16: This was the episode Tatiana used as her Emmy submission and won with.
So my fave ship from Season 1 is finally reunited. Propane (Rachel x Windows), how I've missed thee. Never part again.
And, of course, if something is given, something has to be taken away, so apparently this is goodbye to my dear Beth. I have to say that this season's Beth arc was easily one of my favorite things that has happened on this show. It gave this show the much needed boost it needed after last season's Castor debacle. Sarah seeing Beth again while on the bridge near the train station broke me. When Beth said "We need you." I almost lost it.
The main two questions I need answered now are: Where the hell is Helena? I can understand why she left, but that doesn't explain why we haven't seen her. The woman is pregnant with twins and I need to know she's okay. And of course, is Delphine alive or not? It's been 7 episodes since she was shot and all we know is that Krystal saw someone pick her up and she was still alive at that time. If she is alive, I bet she shows up in the last seconds of the season finale or Cosima gets some phone call from her at the end of the episode.
This season is jockeying back and forth with Season 1 in the favorite season department. Actually, I think when the season is over, I'm going to watch Season 1 and Season 4 back to back.
Well... aside from the question if this was possible and there for feasible... I was puzzled by the reactions of all the surrounding characters. Seriously, a woman calls, tells you how to do your job and just her telling you, no there are no cameras makes you trust her?? What kind of cop is that / does that? Yeah, right, then you go and try to take her in and while she seems to turn everyone unconscious, you go: well, it's a hot chick and she does interesting stuff, why not accompany her? Oh, well, yes, please, drive my car, and I have no reason to protest any further while you wreck about two dozen cars and injure who knows how many people in the process.
And the professor? Suuure, while you initially suspect Lucy's call to be a prank, just her wiggling some technical devices turns you into a believer?
Though I don't really see the religious component of which some reviewers were speaking. But the philosophical potential suffers greatly under those poorly developed supporting characters... and being force feed all those bits and pieces ... I mean, all was well, as long as Lucy shut up - her explaining was just too much, while the end felt more as if it was just about visual effects.
PS: the trakt summary is just hilarious. So minimalistic, ignoring the main points and yet right on the spot.
At 210 minutes in length, this Director's Cut of the film is Petersen's best film one of the best war films ever made. The film may run the gamut of submarine thriller conventions that you would expect to see, but Petersen takes a more interesting approach in handling them. The film spends a lot of time showing life aboard the submarine, constantly emphasising the limited set with characters climbing over and around each other and their supplies, allowing the audience to feel the claustrophobia that this environment would have. The film never breaks from the point of view of the sailors aboard the submarine and is focused solely on their characters as they go about their routines, giving the audience time to get to know them and highlighting their nervous anticipation initially and thereafter, the boredom, tension and repetitiveness of their work as they dive and surface, waiting for battle. When the battles do occur, Petersen is keen to emphasis the reality of these moments for the sailors aboard the submarine, focusing on their reactions to the constant bombardment and drawing out these sequences to build tension, but also to demonstrate the relentlessness of the attacks against the submarines. It's a great approach that really makes you feel for these characters and offers a reminder that the horrors of war are visited on both sides. The final act doesn't wholly satisfy emotionally in that it feels a little tacked on, but it does fit with the themes of the film.
The romance between Mike and Eleven was a bit unnecessary i think. I get that it should heighten the stakes and the finale but i like Millie Bobby Brown so much as Eleven that i didn't really need it. Anyway, now that we have it i am very pleased with the execution. It felt so innocent, so sweet. They are friends, but they feel that they feel more for each other without really knowing that.
The chase and the whole beginning before the intro were excellent. This is 80s-Spielberg at it's best. .
I have a question about the Lando-Theme that Dustin evoked: He said "That doesn't feel good" repteadly in this dialog. But wouldn't it make more sense if he would say: "I have a bad feeling about this", like Han Solo, who was betrayed by Lando? Did Disney or Lucas Film trademarked that sentence?
Also, is Mr. Clark a CIA sleeper? He knows about sensory deprivation tank and how to build one, about multiverse-theories but acts like a really average guy. That is very suspicious! Maybe we should open this curiosity door.
At the end of the episode, where the two henchman of the lab, the woman and the man appeared i had one thought: Anti-Mulder-and-Scully.
“I swear on my late scorpions soul, MY hands are clean.”. :laughing:
This instrumental version of Nothing Else Matters coupled with this montage at the end of episode 3 is chef’s kiss.
I know the show is called Wednesday not The Addams Family or something like that but the adults needed more lines. I wasn't sure about the Morticia and Gomez casting and still am because they're barely in it so far. I want to see more of them.
Jenna Ortega is absolutely knocking it out the park as Wednesday.
Dialogue is kind of weird. Some of it is giving me strong boomer writing teenagers vibes.
Show definitely has its flaws and is outside my demographic but the gothic design is fun to watch, so I will be continuing. An easy yet forgettable watch.
Pros
+Giving the Mystery guy the whole Iron Giant brainwashing is wonderful
+I think I've neglected to mention but the Orcs look fantastic and that is a huge accomplishment despite being easy to overlook
+ The Mystery man I am just assuming Olorin coming to the rescue against the Wargs
+I can see people calling the practice sword fight scene cringy but I thought it was pretty fun
+The color palette, set design, costume design, etc. is flawless
+General cinematography is magnificent
+Isildur's story is Tolkien level simple. However, this is the focus of the long term story and where most viewers will look to going on and I think the story is done well and dialogue is somewhat realistic rather than just pure snap
+Celabrimbor is fantastic, I hated that he looked elderly despite being an elf but he makes up for it in acting feats.
+Gotta love Halbrand but also we all want him to bang Galadriel (even though she's supposed to be taken at this point), he's the only thing that can penetrate Galadriel's shields and its more impactful than sex.
Neutral
*The song part was pretty well done but also seemed a bit out of place
*Ar Pharazon's colonialism is perfect and based although inappropriate for Tolkien
*Injection of the Silmarils felt cheap considering how big they are and how no one will understand they are far far more important than the Ring or mithril or anything of the sort (not to mention their lore is completely disconnected)
*Isildur's sister is so gorgeous I would also Kill a boat's worth or motherfuckers who meant nothing to me just to kiss her face
Cons
-Dumb awkward bit where Durin Jr cries about a table and gets acknowledged instead of laughed away
-Gil galad portrayed as a selfish scumbag bothers me
-Galadriel is still supposed to seem normal rather than Radical which is what her position should seem like
-Adar is a bitch and so is the entire Southlands story, can't wait for Halbrand to create Rohan hehehe
Much improved in comparison to earlier episode this season, many elements from the novels are introduced, and Triss's visit to Kaer Morhen looks almost like in the books, of course except the investigation about the leshen. Triss looks much better this season and resembles the book Triss much more, she is also the person to give the witchers the dressing down they deserve for teasing and humiliating Ciri. I wonder why she never tells Geralt that Yennefer is in fact alive, maybe because she is not sure how long this is going to be the case after Yennefer's escape? There is an emotional scene between Triss and Geralt when they talk about their shared grief and Triss confronts him about his ability to feel real emotions. It is quite enjoyable to watch Triss, Geralt and Ciri work together in the lab to unravel the mystery of Ciri's power. Later on, Ciri's Elder Blood is introduced, something that would be very important in the later volumes, though Vesemir's reaction is really disappointing, as he now sees Ciri as his stepping stone to creating more witchers, thus turning into yet another person that wants to just use Ciri for their own purposes, as if there weren't enough of them. Poor Ciri...
There is Dijkstra and Phillipa Eihard in her owl form - though this is not obvious for those not familiar with the books. He looks totally different from the games, but is rather a convincing character, though I guess I would like to see more of him to really judge.
Finally Jaskier reappears! It seems he had matured a bit since we last saw them, he is more thoughtful and empathetic even towards Yennefer and has another emotional conversation with her after guessing she had lost her magic, saying he really fears losing his poetic talent - he seems to understand Yennefer very well, as his identity is build on his being a poet just like hers was built on being a mage.
The situation Yennefer and Cahir meet Jaskier is totally different from the books, as they are on the run and get in touch with the elven underground in order to get to Cintra. There is some kind of Lord of the Rings callback as they meet some sort of watcher in the water when they are travelling in the sewers. Then they meet Jaskier though who turns out to be some sort of a smuggler helping the elves escape to Cintra, which is now elven city. In the novels, Jaskier got into trouble when he sang the ballad about Gerald, Yennefer and Ciri, and almost got killed before Yennefer saved him from Rience's bandits, but I wonder how it would turn out in the show, since now she has no magical powers and would not be able to rescue him in this way. The ending of the episode suggests Jaskier might be in trouble indeed, I wonder how he would get out of it now. The episodes are getting more and more interesting anyway :)
So now we have massive changes from the source material.
Although well written otherwise, I am not a fan. There are few examples where the complcations resulting out of strong deviations were for the positive. Most of the times the solutions for getting back on track are absurd.
I get that they needed additional material for Yennefer, since she is needed more in later seasons and contracts with a lot of hours in the first year, few in the second and a lot in later years don't really work well (although Anya Chalotra is fairly unknown, so she probably could have been persuaded) - but why not prepare for what you already know comes later on?
Great job showing Cirillas training in Morhen though. They actually kept the part where she fails and gets up again - showing that she is actually a strong character (a very fast learner, but not a Mary Sue who can just do stuff without training).
Freya Allan is actually doing a good job portraying Ciri and I hope she does more roles like this after Witcher ends (seeing how she is 20, she certainly has quite a few good years left).
Generally it is interesting how whenever Cavill is in a shot all the characters are way closer to the source material.
Pretty disappointing and crappy movie.
I suspected a casual and fun movie with this one, maybe with some puzzles and an interesting premise. However the movie disappointed from the start.
For a adaptation from a book I sure hope this was a bad one. You get thrown into the middle of a stoy where suddenly all kinds of stuff happens. I hope this wasn't the case in the original work, because it is one of the major flaws of this movie, and could be explained as the cause of many of its other faults.
The acting was luckily pretty ok, but many of the characters don't add to the story at all and are just filling up empty screen. The sound was to cry off as well. Soundtrack was ok, but many scenes had no music and felt like a soap because of it.
I am all for being creative with sound, but this was just done badly.
Since I won't bore you with pages of irrelevant texts, like the movie does, i will just make a list of the cons and pros.
Cons:
- Paced way too fast
- No build up for a climax (the film was more of a constant climax actually)
- Not getting time to get acquainted with the characters, therefore not caring about there faith.
- Very little character development, except maybe for Gally (Will Poulter)
- Stating many things as impossible without many explanation
- Revealing the endgame in the first act of the movie with a flashback/memory which makes the whole movie unnecessary,
- Also making the whole story as predictable as a Japanese train schedule.
- Inappropriate absent of sound
- Too much unimportant characters
- Did we really need another Hunger Games movie?
- etc.
Pros:
- Nice environment
- Funny but cool looking cyborg creatures
- Doesn't need many attention to follow, so you can check your twitter or facebook feed in the meantime.
Trivia
+Michael says that there is no Wikipedia entry for "office robbery statistics." Now, when you look up "office robbery statistics" on Wikipedia, it brings up the Crime Aid episode of the office.
+The call from Michael to Pam at the beginning is a shout out to the Ricola commercial, famous at the time of release.
+While speaking privately to Phyllis, Dwight mentions Angela's affinity for Sheetz. Sheetz is an actual set of convenience stores located throughout the Pennsylvania area and headquartered in Altoona, PA.
+At one point during the auction, there is an extra that makes a bid and raises his hand. This is the same guy that had Michael steal food from his plate at Benihanas. He also comes out of the elevator outside of the office in another episode.
Goofs
Continuity
+Darryl auctions off a drink with the warehouse crew, which Jim wins and they all walk off together, leaving the warehouse. When they auction off the next item, Jim can be seen sitting in his chair behind Creed.
+When Holly locks the camera crew out of the building, the "lock" she operates was not there when the door was open.
+When Jim is driving to New York to see Pam, you can see the dashboard clearly lit up but the hand of speedometer doesn't move as he accelerates and decelerates.
Soundtrack Credits
The Heart of Rock & Roll
Written by Johnny Colla and Huey Lewis
Performed by Huey Lewis & The News
Consider Yourself
written by Lionel Bart
Performed by Ed Helms
The episode is completely out of touch with the source material, but nevertheless quite engrossing. The only thing it had in common with the book was Jaskier being kidnapped and tortured by Rience, and then saved by Yennefer (though she was using magic in the novel), everything else is made up, but the scenes with Ciri's vision when she travels into her memory with Triss were impressive, the woman with the baby shown in the vision is some mixture of Lara Dorren and Ithlinne, since she speaks the prophecy about the Elder Blood?
Triss confronts Vesemir about his plans to restore witchers using Ciri's blood, though later Ciri herself insists on doing that and even a sample of her blood is collected for the elixir, but Geralt interrputs the procedure at the last moment. It seems though, that using Ciri's blood to create more witchers would probably be the least stupid way of making use of it.
Geralt has to cooperate with Istredd to learn more about the megaliths and it is nice to watch them learn to work together for the common purpose and overcome their differences. The story of the Conjunction of Spheres is elaborated here in comparison to the novels, when it was on the background and never explained in more details other than it brought all the races as well as monsters together to the Continent. Here we get a more scholarly turn on it, and Istredd is getting a more interesting character as a researcher and academic. And Geralt finally learns from Istred that Yennefer survived the battle of Sodden.
Yennefer, however, is in trouble as she had been captured and is about to be executed, she turns to the mysterious woman from her dream/vision earlier on and it turns out it was Ciri all along, who offers her a way to regain her magic.
Fringilla and Francesca are now ruling Cintra together, in some sort of a partnership, and it is rather nice to see some women in power cooperating with each other. Cahir soon joins them as his ship comes finally to Cintra. I wonder how his story would turn out and whether he would change into the person from the novels. Same about Fringilla, who did come from Nilfgard but was not particularly loyal to Emhyr and his cause, and she was rather a shy and reserved person, and not an antagonist since Geralt has a brief affair with her in one of the later volumes of the saga. The Fringilla from the show is totally different and I guess it is nigh to impossible to change what happened to her in the show so that it would fit her book image more.
Another change from the books is Lydia, Vilgefortz's assistant, she is shown to free Rience possibly on Vilgefortz's orders, so she is complicit in what he is planning, but in the books she was depicted rather as an innocent victim of his machinations, besotted with the mage.
Meh. Quite the collection of overdone cliches:
-- It's a crime drama, about a family!
-- The eldest is in charge, but is not the brightest so covers it up with bellicosity. That combination can't possibly lead to trouble.
-- Our protagonist is ambitious, ruthless, and smart. That combination can't possibly lead to trouble.
-- The youngest is dumb and violent. That combination can't possibly lead to trouble.
-- Fortunately, they're surrounded by good women, if only the boys will listen to their wisdom.
-- It's got a beautiful woman, but she's on the side of the law. Oh no! Surely she won't fall for the haunted bad boy.
-- The saintly friend wants nothing to do with the family's evil ways. I'm sure he won't be pulled in.
-- The copper sent to stop them is just as ruthless as they are. What nuanced levels of morality!
-- It's set in olden days so it can be "gritty" and "edgy" with it's violence.
All in all, I liked it better when it was called Ripper Street. I'll watch more, but only because my brother recommended it. If it ends up good, great for me. If it ends up bad, I can berate my brother for his poor taste. Also great for me.
An alright start. The intro is really dry, so give it at least until the halfway mark, before which, it picks up.
Wow, a pilot episode that is actually a self-contained intro to a series cough Andor cough.
I was in a pretty Wednesday Addams kind of mood when I started this, and I nearly stopped watching after about the first ten minutes. I don't know if it was intentional that they cast Zeta-Jones and Guzman to be off-putting, but I was right there with Wednesday in my disgust watching the two of them. The daylights scenes of this show look considerably worse than the night shots, and the stark white light didn't do the actors any favors.
It's lamentable to hear myself say it, but I very much hope that they keep the Gomez and Morticia roles to a minimum, as I am not feeling the casting choices at all. Both previous castings for Gomez and Morticia, in the classic TV series, but especially Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston, from the initial Burton (whoops, false memory) Sonnenfeld films, were iconic, and there's no way that this pair can touch that. The two weighed down this introduction, along with the first part of the script. Also, they seem to be in their sixties, with children just coming into their teens. The show didn't need star power, it needed compelling main characters.
And thankfully, that seems to be just what it has, in its young cast.
The show starts to pick up almost immediately after Wednesday gets to her new school. The fencing scene was a decent start, but the scene with Wednesday and "Thing" was a perfect introduction for the character(s), and the show's tone. The coffee shop scene with young barista Hughie also got a few good laughs out of me. Whereas the intro was an awkward, bloodless, and decidedly tepid take on the Addams formula, once the sardonic humor tinged with just-edgy-enough social commentary showed up, we really got our taste of Wednesday's personality, outside of her being a morbid edgelord, which was never going to cut it on its own.
The dynamic between Wednesday and her roommate, Enid, is compelling by the end of the episode, and the actresses seem to be able to play off of each other well enough, and, given time and good direction, I can see them becoming a dynamic duo.
This was a shaky start, and I'm worried about powers-creep (telekinesis, supernatural horror creature cliques, and Wednesday's already improbably long list of wunderkind-level proficiencies) but I hope this takes off and learns to play to its strengths.
WHYYYYY why why why why did they have to bring Archie and Veronica back together. Most bland, chemistry-devoid, toxic relationship on this show. Archie's relationship with Betty felt so much more natural. Archie and Veronica could both date outside the friend group, could they not? Can Veronica not have a spicy relationship with a new character? Someone she has actual chemistry with? Can Archie and Betty find people outside their circle? Can the writers not let Betty and Archie's exciting romance last because they're too uncreative to write Archie with anyone but Veronica? Why does everything always have to be between these four? And why does it always have to return to Archie and Veronica? Why can't they let the old boring relationships die? Shoot me. These writers suck
Anyway besides that, Jughead going crazy is a hilariously bad storyline. Kevin and Fangs' relationship has no stakes in it, because they barely get any screen time, so anything dramatic that happens between them isn't really impactful or affecting. Cheryl continues to be awful and vindictive and entitled and manipulative and she reeks of "peaked in high school and can't get over it". And she's so weird man. The party shit was so contrived and so strange and so obviously driven by some ulterior motive and everyone was just okay with it?
Really didn't enjoy this one.
