haven't seen the chinese version but as number one body horror fan i fucking loved this episode
ranjit's actor's monologue about the war was incredible tbh
i haven't read the books and i get where wenjie's coming from. if you interpret her choice as revenge against one man vs. all of what she's experienced at the hands of her society then i think you missed a few other things in these first two episodes
the timing of this episode mentioning the wow signal when i just finished the season 2 premiere of x-files less than a day ago
LMAO SCULLY WHY WOULD A CAGED PRIMATE BE FRIENDLY...
hearing people talk about autism in the 90s is wild (to clarify it's just one line at the beginning of the episode, i don't know that roland is intended to be depicted as a man with autism)
plenty of illogical moments (the screaming, the not communicating the blood part sooner, to name a couple) but it's good fantasy and the acting and music is excellent. also, breaking news: in 2024 there are still men out there with masculinity so fragile it can be fractured by a female protagonist in a netflix fairytale
i mean, maybe it's because it's 2024 when i'm watching this, but its kind of endearing to see them discuss ai like it's as fringe a concept as a poltergeist
i actually really liked how the film ended! anyone who feels it was a little incomplete or abrupt should check out the plot summary to the book, it obviously has some spoilers for where the plots diverge but i think the changes make sense for the change in media format. also think it's a fun fact that the screenplay was adapted by the author and her husband together!
regardless of opinion on the case they portrayed i just wanna say chinaza uche is a great actor. he was incredible in silo and just as much so in this episode.
edited to add: i sincerely enjoy episodes like these. i think the l&o franchise does best when it portrays the gray areas of our justice system + society, even if they rarely make for satisfying endings. but also damn if your lawyer tells you you're being offered a good deal TAKE THE DEAL
definitely watch this, it's very sweet and also interesting af.
lance reddick was a great zeus but my heart also hurts every time i see a posthumous role of his :sob:
and the gabe post-credits scene WHAT A NICE BONUS
anyone thinking of watching this who's an adult: yes, this feels rushed, but it's GOOD. like i thought i loved the movie and went back and rewatched (did not, was just distracted by logan lerman i think) and this is miles away better. here's my theory: i have a feeling if you sat a kid in front of this every weeknight before bed they wouldn't have much to say about the pacing, or what feels glossed over or lacking. it has a pace geared towards late elementary to middle school attention spans and i think a pace for young adults or college students would have what feels missing but it ALSO would be aged up to compensate for the demographic. to my knowledge, the aging up of the movies was part of why the creator of the books was unhappy with them (could be wrong though).
either way, if you think the quick pace will ruin the experience for you, i'd suggest marathoning all the episodes in one or two sittings like a movie. it's a quick and fun watch, and that might off-set the rushed feeling.
THIS HAD ME IN MY FEELS TBH
this was fun as hell and i feel genuinely bad for anyone who didn't enjoy it. not a cinematic masterpiece, absolutely a weak villain, but this is the mcu—fun is all i want out of the franchise these days.
for anyone wondering like i was, this is Maybe Kinda not a violation of the mandatory reporting laws in new york city. minors are protected by hipaa in new york city, even from their own guardians, but obviously that goes by the wayside in mandatory reporting situations - mandatory reporters are supposed to contact SCR (new york statewide central register of child abuse and maltreatment) with disclosures, and they'll refer the cases to either CPS (if involving a parent or responsible adult of the victim) or the new york special victims liaison unit (svu in wolfverse). so yeah the therapist is technically making a mandatory report to the right person and just cutting bureaucratic tape.
but also benson is her patient and the girl's father is her boss so... the conflicts of interest are Many here idk. writing's not super logical (but maybe that's the strike for you)
but the ending was cute
i cannot stop screaming this until it stops happening: it is 2024 why are people still saying "i have a (insert relative here)" to contextualize their empathy regarding child pornography and sexual assault and human trafficking WHY DOES IT MATTER WHY DO YOU NEED TO BE RELATED TO ANOTHER HUMAN BEING TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS?
one of the better true crime pieces put out lately by netflix. if you feel like getting more aggravated after watching this—vallejo's police also participate in a pastime called badge bending.
i'm not going to say i can't believe mat mustard still has his job and works in a position of authority, but i do want to know how much longer he gets to stay like that.
LMAO WAIT IM SORRY, DETECTIVE MUSTARD SAID WHAT ABOUT WOMEN???????
i sure love when men need to be reminded that women are human beings by someone pointing out that they have a sister/mother/daughter, because you know, if you don't have a female relative how could you possibly care about a woman being sexually assaulted
this episode in general wasn't great but i'm especially annoyed with maslow's hierarchy of needs being taught in a college class when it hasn't been even remotely validated as a framework in the field and is little more than one psychologist's idea built entirely on research focused on a select few individuals (e.g., albert einstein and eleanor roosevelt) who didn't represent the general population (which, as a bonus, i've since found out maslow defended by saying that studying anyone with any disability or illness would simply result in "cripple psychology")
(in case you can't tell what i have the most trouble suspending disbelief for)
i agree with the sentiments that the episodes could stand to be around the 45 minute mark but i also know why they aren't—family tv shows are always capping out around 35 minutes max and i think it's probably for the best as someone who used to have to bargain using television show episodes to finally get my brothers into bed. those 10-15 min extra add up fast. it is SUPER weird though how the episodes feel so short and rushed at times when the percy jackson movie adaptation didn't quite feel that way (not complimenting it, just an observation). maybe it's the fact it excised a few of the quest steps?
speaking of that adaptation, i haven't read the books so can't confirm but if this show is more faithful to them, i really don't understand some of the changes made for the movie adaptation. this show has been a lot more fun tbh.
more important than a review: if you stream this and after a few episodes it goes from very normal subtitles to incomprehensible ones, let me save you some trouble:
• "vomit" i'm pretty sure means "confess/admit", "are you sane" is "are you crazy"
• "ulam" is just another way to romanize the more commonly written "wooram" (the other name romanizations are easy to keep up with)
• "chikusho" is the japanese semi-equivalent of the korean "shibal" at least in terms of usage and comes up every time a character says "shibal" or even "aish" or "jinjja" which is ridiculous (but also, why is there a japanese romaji word in english subs?? maybe the odd english subtitles were made by the same person who made the japanese subs for the show)
• the show very clearly uses the konglish for "mafia" but when the weird subtitles come on suddenly it's "werewolves" (which is fine i mean the games werewolf and mafia are the same but SERIOUSLY, they SAY mafia??? come on?????)
• which reminds me "chairperson" is "student president"
• worst part: the pronoun use is ALL OFF. just WILDLY wrong. nearly every time you see i/we pronouns that don't make sense with what you understand from the rest of the contextual clues, it's meant to be he/she/they pronouns. they also switch he/she pronouns a lot when talking about female characters (see: jungwon in the last ep). it's not too difficult once you know what's going on but there's definitely some moments in the last few episodes that i just don't think i fully grasped because of the pronoun mistakes.
i have no clue why the subs were normal for a few episodes only, but MAN. sometimes i understood the korean more than the subtitles and that's saying something since the last time i really spoke any coherent korean was maybe 2017
anyway onto the series itself, it's imperfect and plenty goes unanswered but it's an entertaining guilty pleasure kdrama that i happily binged over a few days. if you like this subgenre like i do it'll be very easy to enjoy and suspend disbelief for. acting's pretty solid as a bonus!
it's kind of a silly show but most procedurals are and i can suspend a lot of disbelief for them. also i love trent's actor thanks to agents of shield. i do wonder if this still would've premiered had it not been for the writer's strike though.
also gotta agree with everyone else - the notion that they'd just call him sir forever is laughable at least from the perspective of trauma recovery
cannot believe a man played by an actor a year older than me is being called a child and treated like the gen z of british police
idc i loved it. did need more monsters
i rewatched and i can confirm i was confused by the large screen and logan lerman
this made me realize i have a bad habit of thinking pretty movie posters = good movie
ridiculous and unhinged in a mostly good way. unsure if it was worth the countless moments of secondhand embarrassment it served up. rosamund pike was the absolute peak of this movie and i refuse to hear anything otherwise