The beginning of the episode left me wishing we could've seen more of this side of Star Wars: regular stormtroopers doing their job, getting into action, and all the unseen dynamics rarely mentioned in the mainstream film trilogies. We did have something in that vein: Republic Commando explored the lives of elite Republic clone troopers; Jedi Academy had us follow the lives of youngling under tutelage of Luke's academy; the original Battlefront showed us the transitioning of a republic to an empire through the eyes of the soldiers.
It's the lives of the mundane, the less than extraordinary, yet still gripping and intriguing. They let us dive deeper to the world of Star Wars beyond the flashy buzzing of lightsabers and spectacles of the magical force.
The Mandalorian wished it could be one of those. Unfortunately, it failed terribly.
In episode 5, @ShrimpBoatSteve has said that the series has became too predictable, and I agree - the finale shows how predictable the whole season is. https://trakt.tv/comments/264475
After the long flashback which most parts we've already seen in previous episodes - seemingly making the scenes feels almost like a filler - The Mandalorian episode 8 seems reluctant to set their foot to the ground with its notable world-building as previously seen in Eps 7 and Eps 1 to 3. As I have previously said, after everyone gangs on The Mando (Eps 7), Baby Yoda/Little One's background (who Baby Yoda is, why is he wanted, what the Imperial remnants wanted to do with him, etc) remains unresolved. As the episode shows us Moff Gideon rising with a darksaber in hand, yet another reference moment: every substance the show can possibly offer will be dealt only in Season 2 (or, worse, more).
Stormtroopers in Star Wars have been infamous for their terribly inaccurate shots, but in this episode it feels like their incompetency is amplified to the point of parody and, of course, plot armors. Scout troopers - which is supposed to be snipers - can't shoot droid right in front of their eyes. Instead of coming in squads, troopers only come individually (incinerators burning the building, a few troopers slaughtered by the blacksmith, a few others guarding the tunnel, and the most stupid of all, Moff Gideon waiting for nightfall just for no reason) which makes for a convenient plot armors for our heroes to trek on their way.
Of course, there are casualties - what is a story without something seemingly at a stake? - but it is nothing more than devices to delay the heroes from their trek. Taking cues from Eowyn's "I am no man" of Lord of the Rings fame, in less than moment-defining fashion IG-11, which himself came as a sort of droid ex machina, said that it is no "living being" while resurrecting The Mando from fatal injuries, remedied every possible threat with its healing devices.
Antagonists can be dumb, but there is a limit to dumbness that can suspend audience's disbelief. This episode has antagonist almost feels like they are intentionally dumb and there is nothing really at a stake when everything can be easily remedied.
This episode is not the worst, certainly, as the action sequence is flashy and satisfying. The one near ending where The Mando utilizes a neat jet jump is clever and actually can show the extent Star Wars can be when the director wanted to think creatively beyond the force. Knights of the Old Republic and the aptly named Star Wars Bounty Hunter played with clever tricks similar to this once a while, and the trick doesn't feel cheap as they stand on a very good storytelling.
The Mandalorian's flashy action, regardless, seems to serve only as explicit fanservice - a style over substance.
There are plenty of action, which, by itself, is quite well-done. The consistently hardly imposing threats, unfortunately, dull down the possible thrill those scenes can offer - in a typical corny action heroes such as Gerard Butler's character in Has Fallen trilogy. The scene, for example, with The Blacksmith let us peek into the martial arts capability a Mandalorian can exhibit. But the rather plot armor of incompetent stormtroopers leave no stake at hand; the martial arts dexterity looks more like a cheap imitation of main trilogies of Jedi's acrobatic feats.
Redemption ultimately ends with nothing to be redeemed about, as the people in this show seems to be forever clumsy. From start to finish, everyone made questionable decisions. Nobody blasted the Mando's group with that large amount of stormtroopers. Nobody checked whether Moff Gideon is dead when the fighter was down (Gideon also miraculously survive the crash), with Carga, a supposedly veteran bounty hunter, lightheartedly saying they are already free of the Empire's grasp.
Everything people said in this episode, just like many episodes prior, are not crafted as if the actors were having human conversation. They were rushed by time - they seemingly appear to be set in motion by the plot's demands, to say X so Y happens; to say A when B moment happened.
This episode almost feels like a filler to conclude the dragging episodes this season has been. Screenwriting-wise, this whole season is nothing but bait-and-switch to justify next season(s).
There is much to be said about this kind of terrible business model, where series is written with nothing exactly in mind but to find reasons to continue producing the franchise - the same business model Disney has been using on their MCU franchise and Star Wars films/spinoffs - but the crowds of gladly willing moms awing for Baby Yoda and nerd dads geeking over Star Wars reference doesn't leave enough rooms for those commentaries.
What in the actual f*ck.
I'm a reasonable man, I realize I've been crapping on D&D even more than usual this season but I really do have to give them props for doing exactly what they set out to do. They hoped to subvert our expectations and they did just wonderfully in that regards.
We expected all of that buildup over the years to actually amount to something that at the very least passes for a presentable series finale but instead, we got an incoherent, steaming pile of shit. Expectations subverted!
We expected all of that character development to actually result in a beautiful pay-off that respects the journey of self-discovery each and every one of our beloved characters went through to get to where they are now but instead, we got a painful, disrespectful cycle of character regression. Expectations subverted!
We expected the final season of this show to keep us at the edge of our seats with thrilling writing that didn't subvert our expectations for the sake of subverting our expectations via low-quality shock value-seeking writing, but to introduce plot twists that make sense within the overall narrative of the story but instead, we got CW-level predictable, cringe material. Expectations subverted!
I get it. I really do. GRRM let them down by not getting the books ready in time and so they had to improvise away from his influence, but this? This? For a long while, Game of Thrones lived up to the slogan of its parent network, it wasn't just TV, it was something different, something unique and now to have to see it come to this... it's nothing short of disappointing.
On the bright side though, at least this episode didn't suck completely. The acting, score and cinematography were all on point, so I guess it's nice that I didn't walk out of it having appreciated absolutely nothing about it.
So why do I even bother anymore? I honestly could not tell you, though it's probably a mixture of masochism and a faint sliver of hope that they won't flush our collective investment into this series down the drain by the end of it, just one more episode dammit.
[8.4/10] I feel like this episode isn't going to please most people. The critical crowd is going to be annoyed at it for indulging in fan service at times and wrapping a lot of character relationships too quickly. The more casual fan crowd is going to be upset that this episode was full of yakking and sparse on action or narrative momentum. But honestly, I really liked this one. I have to imagine that the next four super-sized episodes are going to be filled to the gils with action and high drama and excitement. In the prelude to that, it's really nice to get a series of quiet moments to reflect on where everyone has been to get to this point, and the uncertainty of the future, amid the other grace notes that "The Rightful Queen" provides.
Those are the two big ideas at the center of the episode. On the one hand, you have this sense of everyone both assuming that they're doomed but worrying about what the future holds. More than one character declares that they're all dead. And yet at the same time, you have Dany and others worrying about who might have a claim to the Iron Throne or some slice of the Seven Kingdoms. You have Tyrion and others worrying about who might become (or remain) Hand to the Queen. And you have everyone from Misandei to Sansa thinking about what the world looks like when this battle is over. There's the sense of an inevitable, mortal threat, but also of concern for where things stand after they've picked up the pieces.
But there's also a sense of marking how long the journey has been to reach this point and how much everyone has changed along it. Arya is grown, with her own skills, directness, and desires that mark a sharp contrast from the aspirational little girl who went with her father to King's Landing. Jaime and Tyrion are both much different men since they were "The Golden Lion" and "The Imp" who previously set foot in Winterfell ("the perils of self-betterment"). Hell, even the likes of Podrick has become a capable warrior (and classy singer to boot.) There's a boatload of taking stock in this episode, of remembering where everyone's been and the distance between here and there.
What's more, there's tons of nice little moments. Lyanna Mormont gets a nice scene with Jorah, Gilly gets a little time to shine, and Edd gets a chance to reunite with his Night's Watch brethren. That's all on top of Tyrion's little gathering by the fire, which makes the most of the hang out vibe this episode summons when the time is right.
All-in-all, this feels like one of those Game of Thrones episodes we'll remember beyond the bigger clashes and contretemps the series usually has in store. It's a slower episode, but one that deepens our understanding of where these characters at psychologically and developmentally after nearly eight seasons, and lets us wonder about what the future holds right alongside them.
Pros
+Fight scenes were pretty intense and not as hammy as they have been in other episodes with The Others and Wights
+Melisandre returning was good
+Dragon fighting was great and properly brutal
+The Night's King's assassination was pretty great, I liked how they led us on twice with Dany trying to kill him with dragonfire and Jon trying to duel him fairly and both failing before Arya got him
+Theon's redemption was godly and I can already tell people are going to be overlooking it in favor of other scenes unfortunately
+Beric Dondarrion getting brutally stabbed in the hallway was pure cinema, great cinematography
+Brienne and Jaime's unbeatable tag team fighting was great
+Acting was noticeably solid this episode, even actors I don't exactly like did well here, the writing being more competent than most episodes definitely helped
Neutral
* the Dothraki getting all hyped only to do literally fucking nothing was actually hilarious
*Lyanna Mormont bit was the only really cheesy part but it was kind of fun
*Arya chase bit was a lot longer than it needed to be
*Sam just lying down on a pile of bodies doing nothing for the last half of the battle was kind of hilarious too
*Crypt parts broke up the action a bit and served their purpose but also didn't bring that much to the table
Cons
-There were a number of scenes that tried to create tension by prolonging whatever action was happening (like the absurdly long wait at the start, or when Melisandre set the fire to the moat, etc.) and I don't feel like most of it was necessary or added anything but time to the scene
-Not enough important people died for a show that made it's name for not giving plot armor to main characters, there were a few too many scenes where one should've died and was saved at the last second by another character that had no business being at that part of the battlefield (I'm looking at you Jorah! fucking teleporting outside of the castle to save Dany. I'm onto your sorcery)
-Too Dark, hahaha I know dumb complaint but it was noticeably annoying at points
-Didn't really explain why Bran just decided to control the ravens for a bit (I'm also secretly disappointed he didn't steal the Night's King's dragon)
-No giant ice spiders
-Tactics made no sense as usual but magic zombie fighting wouldn't anyway so that's not completely unforgivable.
yeah I know I put a lot of critical points here but the critical parts were all minor to me and the good parts wayyyyy outweigh them. It was a great episode, it sets up an interesting ending to the series. Never thought Cersei would actually be the big baddie at the very end when they could have the Night's King but I'm not against it either. Can't wait to see Jaime stab her and pull out a flaming sword :smirk:. also the Cleganebowl/Trial of the Seven/whatever shit they set up for the final encounter will be wonderful
[8.5/10] Well hell, they got me good on the twists here. I suspected that the ostensibly helpful orderly had his own agenda, and that when he talked about Number One he might have been talking about himself. But there’s a whole mess of things that I did not guess, including:
That's a lot! It’s effectively making One the show’s Big Bad, give or take Brenner himself. And I gotta say, kudos to the casting directors and Jamie Campbell Bower. He leans into the utter creepiness of One a la Cillian Murphy or Daniel DeHaan. You by him as a sympathetic and troubled yet evil and menacing figure, which is a hard line to walk, and it sells some of the mishmash of cliches that the character represents and succeeds despite.
To the point, One is an odd mix of Agent Smith from The Matrix (“Humanity is a strange kind of pest”), Magneto from X-Men (“We’re superior to them”), Darth Vader from The Empire Strikes Back (“Join me and think of what we could accomplish”), and even Emperor Palpatine from Revenge of the Sith (“Oh no, right after my villainous invitation to powerful young soul, lightning turned me into a scarred ghoulish figure!”). HIs monologue is a touch hammy, and feels pulled from a mix of these other sources, but the superb performance and intensity of the scenes makes it work.
Say what you will about Stranger Things as it reaches its mid-season break, but they can still put together a damn good set piece when they want to. The stand-off between Eleven and One is terrifying. The raw intensity of the two having a force battle a la the one she had with one of her telekinetic bullies in the prior episode, the sheer horror of the way One drags her around as she claws at the floor and hangs in the air, and the rousing but still unnerving way she turns the power back on him and disintegrates him into another dimension is jaw-dropping and riveting.
At a thematic level, I like One as the antithesis of Eleven, her dark reflection and ultimate nemesis. The show implies that he’s been repeatedly abused by his parents, which lends to his dim view of humanity and the way he powers his abilities with sadness and anger. He was not born a monster, but made that way, and it tainted his perspective and his approach to generating his unique talents.
Eleven is the opposite. Time and again, we’ve seen her power through difficult situations not by resorting to pain, but instead, like Max, by reflecting on the people she loves and who care deeply for her as well. It’s telling that when Eleven tries to summon strength from recalling her mother being ripped away from her, or the death and destruction she witnesses as a consequence of her removing One’s inhibitor, it’s not enough to defeat him. But when she recalls her mother’s love, the act of creation and instant bond and affection, it summons a power that One has no ability to withstand.
For all this season has been teasing that Eleven needs to return to negative emotions to regain her powers, I love the subversion that, at the end of the day, it’s the remembrance of that love which not only spurred her to victory on that fateful day many years earlier, but which restores her power now. I still find Brenner to be a morally questionable figure. The show’s treatment of him still makes me a little queasy. And I still feel uncomfortable about Owens’ willingness to throw in with him, even if he thinks it’s necessary to save the world. But all of this ethically dubious “training” lands in a strong place thematically, vindicating Eleven’s bonds with the people who love her as the source of her power, and pointing to the lack of such care and affection as the thing that unfortunately doomed poor Henry Creel.
I don’t know that every part of it adds up logistically. It feels like it conflicts with some other things we knew about the Upside Down, and the attempt to bring together the cosmology of the Demogorgon, the Mindflayer, and Vecna into one consistent effort plays more than a little clunky. But ultimately, it works at an intuitive level, which is good enough for me.
Plus hey, there’s a lot of Star Wars and Harry Potter here, which isn’t terribly surprising given some of the references in the show to this point. (The former, not the latter, obviously.) One is basically tempting Eleven to turn to the darkside, to use negative emotions to spur her use of The Force. The offer to join together is very Vader and Luke, or even Kylo Ren and Rey. And the contrast between a child born of love and one born without it is very Harry and Voldemort. On balance, it makes me think that Eleven will ultimately try to save One in some way, to redeem him, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see in July when the last two episodes of the season come out.
All-in-all, I haven’t loved the Eleven storyline thus far, but this takes into a pretty shocking yet compelling place, about where her flashback adventures fit into the larger story of Stranger Things, and about how who she is informs what she can do in a way her foe absolutely cannot despite all his own malevolence and power.
Oh yeah, and other stuff happens in the episode too! Who knew?
I still don’t like the Russian rescue business, but at least they went somewhere with it. It remains insane that they were able to bluff their way into a secret Russian prison, bring a weapon inside without getting frisked or bothered over it, and hold a warden hostage to get most, if not all, of what they want. This plan makes no sense, but hey, Murray’s Yuri impression is gold, so it’s got that going for it.
And yet, Hopper and the crooked guard’s fight with the demogorgon is reasonably cool. The CGI for the demogorgon was off here, as it didn’t move or react properly. The design remains terrifying though, which does a lot of the work. Plus the Duffer Bros. and the fight choreographers do a good job of adding tension to the scene by having Hopper struggle to light his spear torch at first, and then force them to improvise when getting behind the super-thick doors before the flame runs out. It’s a well-constructed set piece, even if I’m pretty much done with this storyline.
To the point, Hopper and Joyce embracing after so long apart and so much each has been through in the interim should be a moving moment. I felt nothing. I can’t say that Stranger Things didn’t earn the moment. It showed each character going through a hell of a lot to reach it and reflecting on what each means to the other. But the whole thing has been so wildly implausible and tonally different from the rest of the show, coupled with a bit of character assassination last season, that it ultimately holds no emotional weight for me. At least we’re hopefully done with it for a while, though they still have to figure out how to get back to America, which is another layer of implausibility to overcome.
The two teams of junior detectives working back in Hawkins/the Upside Down is a treat as well. There’s parts that I still don’t like. I continue to not understand why they’re leaning so hard back into Steve/Nancy as a couple, but I’ve said my piece on that. The Upside Down looks pretty bad here much of the time, with the actors conspicuously pasted onto green screen backgrounds that breaks immersion. Dustin turns into an exposition machine at one point, which serves to set up the Vecna reveal more than anything happening in his corner of the story. And as clever as some of the solutions are, there’s occasionally some shortcuts taken to avoid the inevitable trial and error of communicating across dimensions that feel convenient, albeit within the realm of acceptable willing suspension of disbelief.
But there’s a lot I really like here. The dynamic of both quartets works really clicks. As lukewarm as I am on Nancy and Steve as a couple, Eddie having a heart-to-heart with Steve about how he’s an unexpectedly decent guy and that Nancy would clearly go to hell for him is the best sales pitch for it so far. Robin’s hyperfixation on the risk of rabies after Steve’s bite is also an on-point bit of fun characterization. On the other side, I’m glad they added Erica back into the mix as the younger kids try to bridge the gap between worlds and keep their stories straight.
I most appreciate the crew figuring out to go to Eddie’s trailer in order to rescue their friends. It pays off the crack in the ceiling the show’s been teasing for a while now, and there’s a crude logic to the sense that every kill from Vecna creates a breach between their worlds. The rope climbing escapade makes for a neat visual to boot.
God help me, I also enjoy the twist of Vecna going after Nancy given her guilt over what happened to Barb. We don’t really have much setup for it -- no headaches or other visions -- but maybe Vecna’s powers are stronger within the Upside Down. More than anything, I dig how it plays on the character’s history in a meaningful way. Much as Max felt guilt over what happened with Billy, Nancy feels the same about the best friend who died while she was too busy having fun to notice. Bringing the two together like that, in a way that plays on Vecna’s M.O. and a prior psychological hang-up for Nancy, is a surprise, but in a good way, finding points of harmony between past storylines and current ones in a way that works.
Overall, “volume 1” of Stranger Things’ fourth season has been a disappointment. So many of the plot threads this year have come off like wheel-spinning, table-setting, and throat-clearing. Some of the core strengths of the show remain, mostly in its characters, but you can feel the show’s creative team spinning out at times. And yet, the high points, when they pay all of that build off, are quite high. Between Max overcoming vecna at the midpoint, and the triumphs and revelations in this mid-season finale, the show can still soar when it brings everything to a climax and puts its cards on the table. I hope we see more of that in the last two episodes of the season.
[9.5/10] The most ingenious choice that Greta Gerwig’s Little Women makes is to chop up the story so as to juxtapose present and past. It not only immediately marks this adaptation as distinct from its predecessors, but helps to recontextualize and connect different parts of the story to make it feel new again.
The audience has a chance to meet and appreciate Freidrich before Laurie has burrowed into their hearts. By the same token, the joy and connection between Amy and Laurie can be front and center from the get-go, without springing it on the viewer halfway through the story. And the bookend approach allows Gerwig to put Jo’s drive and travails as a writer into the spotlight early.
But the biggest advantage it confers on the film is how it allows Little Women to constantly contrast the lives that these young girls imagined they would lead one day, with the lives each finds themselves inhabiting in the future. Like the novel it’s based on, Gerwig’s adaptation is anchored squarely around considering the wildest dreams of its titular set of sisters, and measuring them against the paths actually available to women in their time, and the places their choices and passions take them. The jumps back and forth and time allow Gerwig to check expectation with reality, to trace cause and effect, and to resolve the two with poignance and grace.
It also allows Gerwig and company to flesh out each of the young women at the center of the narrative. Jo March still commands the story and the screen. Saoirse Ronan throws herself into the role, conveying all the punch, heedlessness, and subtle vulnerabilities of the character with endearing abandon. It is both a dream role and a hard one, but Ronan makes it look effortless.
And yet, this adaptation makes time for the other March sisters to falter and flourish. Amy is vivid and real from the jump, with her questioning of her own talents, her sense of being second to Jo, and her truth-telling relationship with Laurie put front and center. Meg’s chance at a life of elegance and plenty, the love that pulls her away from it, and the joys and hardships of that choice are given time to breathe. And Beth remains the heart of the film -- still a little too pure for this world, but one who suffers for her own goodness, reminds a kindly neighbor of what’s been lost, and spurs her sister to take up what she’s put down.
All the while, Little Women is utterly gorgeous to look at through the March Sisters’ misadventures. Gerwig and cinematographer Yorick Le Saux capture the bucolic beauty of scene after scene draped in New England splendor. The pair construct tableaus of faraway elegance and local beauty in turn. But these visuals aren’t gratuitous. Beyond making the movie a treat to watch, it helps sell the contrast at the heart of the film. Scenes set in Jo’s youth have a golden hue, an inviting glow that conveys the idyllic, hopeful tone of those early days. And the ones set in her adulthood are darker and starker, visually communicating the various cold realities the March family has had to grapple with in later years.
As necessary as it is to contend with those cold realities, it’s just plain fun to vicariously share in the joy that Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy share with their mother and friends in their family home. Apart from its structural choices, apart from its character focus, the greatest strength of Gerwig’s Little Women is how well it captures this sense of young people at play, of a headstrong young woman in their element, and that unfathomable, spontaneous vigor of youth.
The March Sisters, and their friends and close confidants, fight and babble and hug and exalt together. There’s a move toward Gilmore-esque speed and overlap in conversation after conversation, expressing the happy chaos that envelops these lives. This story is founded on the breadth of possibility forged in such a simple, familiar environment, on the pleasures and satisfactions found despite absences and meager means, on blessings shared and passed around. The warmth of the March household would not work if those who orbit and inhabit it, did not seem so real in their rough-and-tumble interactions and simple joys.
Those joys, however, are meant to run up against the expectations of adulthood that clash with allowances of youth. That’s the role Aunt March plays -- the naysayer to the slack existence her brother and his wife and children have made for each other. But Gerwig does not make her a villain. Instead, she is merely practical, a woman who knows from her own experiences which choices are permitted and which invite difficulties, delivered with an amusing wryness that makes her endearing even as she aims to stifle her nieces’ dreams.
That’s the crux of Gerwig’s adaptation. The March sisters imagine wondrous lives for one another, borne on the backs of each’s great talent. Jo pictures herself as a bold writer in the big city who never marries anything but her art. Meg sees glimpses of a life where she’ll never have to work, where there’s time for things like acting and society and beautiful dresses. Amy envisions the life of the genius painter overseas who stands with giants. And each finds those dreams running aground on the many limitations of the real world, with tethers made extra taut for the declaratively fairer sex.
All except for Beth, whose dreams lie in the simple doing of good, the making of music for those around to hear it rather than for the masses, despite her prodigious abilities. She is the cinch of Little Women, not merely in her death which brings the March sister home. But in her life of quiet kindness at home, in her peace with what must come and the joy to be found despite it, a joy they found together in the attic and can still share and revive no matter how big or little they are now.
Jo, Amy, and Meg each regains a measure of that golden glow in the shadow of the house they grew up in. Amy loses the artists life in Paris she imagines, but finds happiness in a partner who vindicates her talents and for whom love triumphs over station. Meg is denied by circumstance of the beautiful things and easy life she once pictured, but is buoyed by the care and satisfaction of family and a life built with the man she loves. Even Jo turns away from the “spicy” stories that sell to stuffy cigar-smoking New York publishers and finds her truth, finds her greatness, in the bonds fraught and familiar at home, with a winking-but-joyous connection to a beau of her own. And each is seen sharing the fruits of their talents, passing them on to a new generation of young men and women.
There’s a degree of wish-fulfillment to the close of the film, a heartstring-tugging image of familial warmth in a bucolic setting. But Gerwig earns that warmth. The happiness crafted in a humble home is measured against the metes and bounds of the wider world, and found no less worthy. The choices afforded to women of any station at the time are reckoned with and suffered in, with the ensuing joys and small, self-possessed rebellions made more potent in that unfair crucible. The losses each suffers, the distance between the lives they dreamed and the lives they live, is laid bare in the cuts between past and present.
But in the end, Gerwig does as Alcott did, and makes the fulfillment each chooses meaningful by those terms. The hardships great and small each endures, make it more than a publisher-mandated happy ending when, despite that difference between past imagination and present truth, each of these little women realizes they’re living the lives they truly want.
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.
This movie was wrong on so many levels. It was as expected though. Jessica Simpson flat out can not act. We all knew that. But she wasn't the worst singer trying to be actor in this flick. That honor goes to Willie Nelson. His lines were mechanical and painful to hear. There had to have been someone better that auditioned to play Uncle Jesse. The paper thin plot line was about equal to one episode of the TV show in strength. It basically serves as an excuse to drive the General Lee all over Georgia to some VERY sweet stunts with a secondary purpose of letting us see Daisy show off her assets. Note that the boys seemingly drive all night to Atlanta to get the core samples tested but when they run in trouble with the law, Daisy shows up to save the day immediately. Just a minor complaint. Possibly most annoying was the character of Billy Prickett, the towns favorite son and four-time winner of the road rally. He not only looked exactly like Ben Stiller's character in Dodgeball, he was played the same. There was some entertainment value to this movie. I did enjoy it to some extent and got exactly what I was expecting.
Things fall apart in the very next episode - which didn't take long at all - finding the treasure was always going to be the easy part if this show wanted to have any sense of a longer lifespan about it - there's a lot of scenes between John B. and Sarah's father Ward here that really work - of course Sarah's dad was always going to know more about the treasure than he was letting on, and that final shot of him climbing up the boat to - do something bad - to John B opens up a whole can of questions for the next episode. He has a dark past - that's clear - a past that he's willing to take drastic actions to stop his newly adopted son from talking.
JJ fell down pretty hard this episode and his stuff was pretty emotional and effective. I really like that the show doesn't use this as an excuse to force him apart from the rest of his friends, and that Kiara and Pope sympathise with him for his actions rather than cast him off - which would have been a bad move. It's the highlight of the episode for me, even considering the ending. Rudy Pankow was the MVP of this episode.
Maybe it's not the best idea to question a man who may have had something to do with your father's disappearance on a boat in the middle of nowhere, John B? Maybe wait until you're back on dry land? Either way - whatever happens next - most likely leaning in the direction that John B's going to either kill or heavily injure Ward out of self-defence - we've just found our hook for the rest of the episodes.
Thanks to Melisandre we could actually see what the fuck was going on!
This episode was so dark, even the Night king's guard didn't see Arya coming...
My therapist will hear about this episode.
They didn't even need the Dothraki. Greyworm, Gendry, Tormund, Brienne, and Jaime killed like 2,000 wights each
The Night King was reduced to Tyrion level of Stupidity.
Confirmed death count: R.I.P
Edd
Beric Dondarrion (aka. Barricade Dondarrion)
Lyanna Mormont (Lyanna 'Giantsbane' Mormont. Killed a giant at the age of thirteen in the Battle of Winterfell. Her greatest and final act. And now her watch has ended.)
Theon Greyjoy
Jorah Mormont
Night King
Melisandre (Melisandre: "I will be dead before the dawn.")
99.8% of the Unsullied
99.9% of the Dothraki (Dothraki's flaming weapons slowly disappearing in the dark was the most terrifying scene EVER)
Confirmed living:
Ghost
Drogon
Rhaegal
Jon yelling at a fucking Dead Dragon!
Jon: We did it. We defeated the dead.
Bran: We don’t have time for any of this. Cersei has 4 elephants.
One of the Best part was the slow piano montage of everyone dramatically fighting to the last breath with a shot in the middle of Sam lying on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
RIP Azor Ahai Theories
RIP Night King
RIP Logic
RIP Lighting in the Episode
RIP Lyanna Mormont True King in the North
RIP Arya as a good character
RIP Melisandre the confused woman
RIP Theon protecting Useless Boy
RIP Jorah and Beric Defending Strong woman
RIP Good storytelling and 9 years of Hype
RIP Winter and the Long Night
RIP Me
None of the prophecies mattered, nothing was resolved between Bran and Night King, all eight seasons of build up and the NK dies from one quick stab. No surprising twists, no intelligent storytelling, the storyline ends like this. The whole long night ends in one battle.
The war council preparing for a siege, they send out their cavalry to die in the first 10 seconds, 20 or more wights surrounded every character, and yet every main character manages to retreat. Theon with around 20 archers managed to defend against a horde of wrights. We see Jon surrounded by a crowd of wights, and next scene there's no more wights left.
I think this time it's a bit of a stretch to say DB Weiss and David Benioff planned this well. By their own admission they've only known Arya was going to land the finishing blow for 3 years and when you account for the 2 year hiatus, that's just season 7. Even then, Arya got the job because she's a fan favorite, not because this is what she's been building up to. Her story never even had a hint of "White Walker" plot. I think Mel talking about shutting eyes forever back in season 3 was purely about her faceless man training. Mel said the "Blue Eyes" comment second in season 3 but they retro actively made it the last color while reiterating it this episode to force prophetic weight onto it.
From a story writing perspective this was not Arya's fight to win anymore than it would've been Oberyn Martell's. Her experiences made her a highly skilled fighter but her plot didn't set her up to be the savior of the realms of the living.
This is awesomeness. I had the goofiest of the smiles. Such a joy to watch. It felt like an Arrowverse movie rather than a TV show. I loved that they just created a big story arc, spliced it into four episodes and didn't focus that much on which show the episode belongs to.
The episode felt a little bit longer than the previous one because the Felicity drama slowed it a bit.
They could've gone a little easier on the forced relationship drama as a counterpoint to Barry and Iris' happiness. So far, it didn't make so much sense with what's going on, so it felt a little bit off, but it was still great.
The action scenes were so badass. Those long wide shots with everyone fighting were so good that I wasn't even bothered by the slo-mo scenes. I'm really in love with the shot of Oliver's eye while he was lying on the floor. That was a great cinematography there.
One thing that this episode emphasized was character interaction. It was so well-done and a pleasure to watch. I especially loved Oliver. Stephen Amell is just too good to be true. I'm in love with the guy. He's always great in crossovers but he standed out in this one. I don't know if it was because he got to put on the Green Arrow suit again and got to kick ass or because he was much more funny than in Arrow. He doesn't get those funny remarks on Arrow due to its darkness, but he was incredibly funny and his one-liners were the absolute best.
"Just a quick reminder, super speed - I don't have it". One of the best parts for me, rotf. Delivery was on point. Plus, Kara just started whistling waiting for him. What a funny scene!
Kara: "Is that a kryptonite arrow? Why do you have a kryptonite arrow?"
Oliver: "In case an evil you ever showed up".
That made me laugh so hard but hey, how the hell did Oliver know about kryptonite? How did he get it? If it's from Earth-1, does it mean there's a version of Superman or Supergirl on this earth too?
Dark Arrow: "My allegiance is to the Fatherland and to my wife" looks at Overgirl
Kara: "His wife? Gross! No offense".
I loved how disgusted Kara looked when she knew. Btw, the scene when they kissed was pretty much a big wtf.
Tommy freaking Merlyn! The noise I made wasn't human. Words can't describe what I felt when I saw him and Ollie's pain in his eyes. We finally got Tommytheus! I couldn't believe it aaaand, he's gone. Killing him after a 5 minute talk. I guess they couldn't get Colin Donnell for much longer. But I'm not mad. It was a wtf moment but it was worth just to see Oliver and Tommy interact again. They punched me right in the feels. I could've been watching that for a whole hour. I kinda wished Tommy would've been a good guy after all but being raised in that world without a choice, I don't blame him.
So Eaobard Thawne from Earth-1 is alive after all. But how? I missed Wellsobard so damn much and seeing Reverse Flash again was just perfect. I love you Tom Cavanagh. He's always a pleasure to watch but his version of Thawne is just a standout for me. Overgirl and her interactions with Kara were amazing. I loved how Melissa played an evil version of herself.
Eobard's still somehow alive and I'm grateful but holy molly, killing Barry's mother, killing the original Wells and taking his place, creating a whole bunch of metas, trying to create his brave new world with the Spear of Destiny, all of that I get, but going to Earth-X and getting involved with Nazism, that right there is evil. That crossed the line. I'm looking forward to some further Eobard-Barry interactions, a la season 1 finale.
I loved Harry's remark when Barry was talking about the Reverse Flash. "That guy's an idiot", lmao. That was brilliant.
And the "a lot of smart people...and Rory" line seems to be sticking, lol.
I loved to see Rene, Dinah and Curtis fighting Dark Arrow just to see them wasted one minute later. Dinah could've used her canary cry to stop him, though. Correct me if I'm wrong but that must be the only episode of Arrow without Diggle, not even for a tiny bit. I get why, but still, it was bizarre to see an Arrow episode without him.
I loved how them all got to defend Earth, even Kara and Alex even though this isn't even their earth and yet there they were, kicking Nazis ass. I'm glad Alex could join Kara in this year's crossover unlike last year where she got a left alone as the only member of Supergirl.
And I thought the Jax-Stein scenes in the Supergirl episode were hard. Little did I know! "I never knew my father, but I got to know you. You're the closest thing I've ever had to a dad, and now you're leaving". Right where it hurts: in the feels. It feels like my heart needs a vacation. Man, that hit me pretty hard. Damn ninjas!
Mick Rory is always a plus. I love his random way of doing things. Everyone's about to fight a bunch of Nazis and he bemoans because there's no mustard. He's the absolute best. And he tried to scare Caitlin into Killer Frost, lol. I lost shit in that scene.
That ending scene left me dizzy. Seeing them in a concentration camp made me feel so uncomfortable. That felt straight out wrong. That evil being portrayed on scene turned my stomach.
One thing that I loved was theittle winks to the plot. Iris and Felicity wearing a red and green jacket, respectively as a nod to their love interests was a nice touch. Iris has already done it before, even wearing yellow. And while in the parking lot with the Nazi versions of Ollie and Kara, in the column where Ollie pushed Eobard "E1" was written, as meaning Earth-1 right before they told us that he's the original Eobard. Those little details are fantastic.
I really love the way they structured the crossover. Crisis on Earth-X seems like a standalone show with wee bits from the four Arrowverse shows without an extreme focus on the one that's airing. Even the font was different, which was fantastic. And the intro was absolutely amazing. It reminded me to the iconic Marvel intro.
So far, this has been a fantastic and amazing crossover. Can't wait until tomorrow. The hype is real!
Tommy Merlyn! I'll be damned. We haven't seen him in forever. Shame he had so little screentime.
If Hitler died in 1994, it means he was 105 years old at the time of his death. Geez. I guess it's true, only good die young.
Lots of funny moments in this one, like Barry's "Good thing we have a metric ton of smart people in this building... and Rory", Kara being grossed out that Overgirl and Dark Arrow are married (seriously though, eww), Supergirl and Flash waiting for Arrow to arrive (probably my favorite moment of the entire episode to be honest, especially Oliver's little grumpy "Just a quick reminder. Super speed? I don't have it."). And on the other end of the spectrum, we got plenty of nice emotional scenes too, especially the one between Jax and Stein (who's chopping onions in here?) and the one between Kara and Alex.
That fucker Eobard just won't die, will he? Where's he popping up next, National City?
Okay, who wants to bet that Felicity will change her mind by the end of the crossover? At this point i'm starting to think they'll do a double wedding kind of thing with Barry and Iris. Oh, and I appreciate that Felicity was wearing a green jacket and Iris was in a red sweater, reflecting their respective love interests' signature colors.
It was kind of hilarious and sad at the same time that the Arrow team appeared for 5 seconds and immediately got their asses kicked.
This crossover has been pretty awesome so far. I'm excited for tomorrow. Let's hope Kara flings her evil doppelganger into the Sun.
Oof. Now that the episode's over I can finally breath and relax. That was tense. More than tense. More tense that I initially expected. It was a roller-coaster of emotions. I probably didn't realize how tense I was until the credits kicked in and I felt somewhat of a relief.
What an amazing episode! Stellar performances. Damn, Oliver Stark was unbelievably good. I feel sad for the gas station guy. I knew he was gonna die, but it was still sad to watch.
I want to point something out. Someone give Jennifer Love Hewitt an award! She deserves anything good that happens to her. What a brilliant performance! I'm gonna rematch the episode again just for her stellar performance. I wasn't sure about her coming this season to replace Abby, but I wasn't expecting to love her as much. She and Chimney deserve some happiness together. I'm sure Maddie's Doug PTSD is gonna kick in when she's with Chimney. I just hope it doesn't interfere itheir relationship.
I know they're all actors and that what happens on a show is not real and all that stuff, but the fact that it was Jennifer Love Hewitt's real husband who played Doug makes me somehow awkward. I know it's all role-play and that they're professionals but if that were me, I'd need a stranger and not someone who I live with. Just a thought. But either way, kudos for them for playing it that way. It was a really stellar performance, probably the best one we've seen in the show so far.
I've just finished watching the show and I can't believe how good it was. I actually didn't expect it to be this good. The pilot got me hooked like no other show has and as I continued watching the characters grew on me. Abby and Buck are so damn cute together and I'm so deeply sorry for Abby's loss. I loved how, despite saving lives day in day out, they still got problems at home and how the characters were developed. Everyone has their story, and despite what they have seen, they go home and be another person. Angela Basset is just the best thing that there is. She's great and I love Athena. However, I don't feel comfortable with her date with Bobby. I rather watch them with another people, or Athena with the handcuffed guy (can't remember his name).
At the beginning of the show, the emergencies seemed a bit disconnected, but now they've found their pace and they're related, thus making it easier and believable for the viewer. I'm so glad this show got renewed 'cause it's damn fine.
The scene with the guy talking on the phone with his son after getting split in half was really hard to watch. It was really emotional and heartbreaking.
So glad I gave this show a go. otherwise, I would've regretted it
Another wickedly weird day in Riverdale. So this episode raised new questions for me... Is Chic alive? I mean, Betty threw a kitchen knife at him but all we hear is that Charles and Glen are going to be okay. I can't even begin to explain how I watched the whole 'pincushion Man scene... it was a whole new level of crazy even by Riverdale standards. It went from wedding to extending the family trauma in 0,3 seconds. Next question: Why would Tabitha leave Jughead chained to a desk in a bunker full of candles ALONE? Next up: Did Veronica actually think Chad was going to let her go just like that? The guy is a literal copy of her father in terms of shadiness, hello daddy issues. And lastly, did Penelope, Cheryl and Nana really want to sacrifice Minerva and did they actually just pray for WIND?
I can't wait to see what kind of craziness comes next. I solely watch this show as an escape to reality nowadays... thinking 'well, we might have a global pandemic but at least we don't have a massive prison escape orchestrated by the town mobster/ex-mayor that causes my serial killer brother plus his fiancé to come to my doorstep to get wed and lowkey also play a very murderous game in front of children'.
This was, without a doubt, the best episode of season four and one of Riverdale's best of all time. It was incredibly coherent, well-written, and gripping, and all of the pieces from previous episodes came together to form a perfect puzzle.
I am very impressed that the writers managed to keep track of all of their flash-forwards and clues, and deliver such a coherent and satisfying endgame. The writers clearly planned this all far ahead, giving us clues about the Stonewall Four, the Baxter Brothers franchise being stolen from Forsythe, Chipping's murder, and the terrifying Halloween night prank, right from the very beginning.
So many jaw-dropping moments and so many unexpected twists here. There was not a single dull moment in this packed episode. It also played like a season finale, complete with full-circle resolution-- ending the episode back in Pop's, toasting to a normal rest of senior year, bringing us right back to when the madness began.
This was truly phenomenal. Though season four suffered from a tonal rut in the first half, it quickly got itself together in the second half to deliver one of its best plots. It was clear from the beginning that the writers had something great up their sleeve with the Stonewall Prep storyline, even when the other plots were starting to flounder.
This, though, exceeded all expectations.
This episode is just 45 minutes of people doing shitty things and avoiding consequences and not learning anything. Is Cheryl taking back the Vixens supposed to be a sassy slay queen girlboss moment? Because she really doesn't deserve them back. Her place was taken by an appointed coach after she missed a billion school days/practices without informing her cheerleaders because she was busy talking to the dead corpse of her brother and thinking her house was haunted. And being made to seem like a lovable little vulnerable sweetheart because of it. And vilifying the family members who wanted to get psychiatric help for the woman who was TALKING TO A CORPSE. She can't fathom that her absence necessitated a replacement, that's so unfair to her. So she locks her replacement in a room and takes over. Most infuriating thing I've ever watched. No consequences will ever fall on Cheryl, she can just do whatever shitty thing she wants and the story will treat it as some kind of empowering moment.
Archie's uncle is the same god damn way. He gives Mad Dog the drugs, and Mad Dog takes them, and Archie is rightfully angry. But then Archie's uncle gives some bullshit speech about "Mad Dog can make his own decisions" and Archie goes oh my god he's my uncle he's family what was I thinking I miss my dad and he forgives him for selling his friend drugs that put his health at risk. Jesus Christ every time Archie is poised to take a step forward he just cries about his dad and reverts to forgiving everyone and clinging to literally everything that has his dad's name on it, no matter how bad it is for him. His uncle has been a consistently shitty person so far, and Archie's mom has told him that Frank is a shitty person, and Archie forgives literally everything he does, and the story acts like that's the right thing for him to do.
Really frustrating episode to watch. Fuck all these characters I hate them.
(249-word review) Despite being different from the usual: this time, it was about piecing together foggy events from far in the past and the one who supposedly did it being front and center from the beginning, this episode was more about depicting the sadness, loneliness, and emotional reality of the impact of which war can do to a man/person; while that has almost certainly been portrayed many times throughout the medium of television and film, that doesn't lessen this instance's impact, and unless you fail borderline unhumanly-miserably, that never will. Charles Durning gave a commendable performance.
Besides that, the acting, across the board, was the second-biggest draw; Alicia Coppola stood out, with a more subtle induction by Sasha Alexander and Mark Harmon (and more subtly, the score had its perks, too, with the most distinction and variety in the show it's been): right behind the effective attempt at putting a needed, appreciated light on the horrific reality that, unfortunately, plagued so many people that were lucky enough (or unlucky) to live another day, even to this day with more recent sufferers unrelated to the arguably worst war/battlefield occurrences in the past, like with Ernest/Ernie Yost, which is even more unfortunate.
Even though this episode didn't seem good enough to warrant a higher rating, at least in my eyes, it was still sufficiently engaging, on top of its importance, for obvious reasons. It certainly didn't fall into the threshold of giving it a rating lower than I gave it.
I was so disappointed in this effort from Adam Sandler. I have loved most of his movies as far back as his idiot days of The Waterboy and the like. But I thought he had started to turn the corner with Click. Sure it still had kicks in the groin and fart humor, but there was finally message hidden in the crude humor somewhere. Sadly, there was no corner to be turned. This movie is utter regression. Scenes that had shooting fish with his butt and the gross concept of him "satisfying" every elderly lady who needed silky smooth hair in the salon was too much to handle. I'm talking over the top gross out for a Sandler flick. The one neat part for us middle agers was one of the "customers" in the salon was Mrs. Garrett from Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes fame. Lastly, I used to be a big fan of Rob Schneider. But now he has played an Asian(Chuck and Larry), a Palestinian, a Hawaiian(50 First Dates), and a Bayou Boy(The Waterboy) all with the EXACT same accent. Come on. There were several funny parts in this movie but I can not come up with one good reason to watch it again.
"Rule Number 9, never go anywhere without a knife."
Based on the episode title, I went into this expecting an exciting episode. I wasn't disappointed. I wouldn't say I was expecting it to be better than it was, but it was a step-up from the previous two episodes: that's for sure. The comedic bits were good; the ones between Tony and Caitlin stood out the most. The moments between Gibbs and Tony stood out, too. In general, the comedic bits were all good.
I liked the somewhat comedic undertone of yet another jurisdiction battle between the FBI and NCIS. I like that Agent Freedman said that he was warned by Agent Fornell about Gibbs, only for him to get outsmarted, too. The callback was nice. Mark Harmon and Sasha Alexander looked pretty good in those uniforms, especially him. And I wonder if Sasha ad-libbed the last bit of dialogue at the end or improvised the little dance that Caitlin did. Something about the end gave me that impression.
Speaking of Agent Freedman, the actor played Malcolm Carruthers in L.A. Noire. What almost seems like a tradition of actors showing up in this show, who later on voice-acted a significant video game character, continues. I wasn't sure it was him at first. He looked different, and his voice wasn't as pronounced as in L.A. Noire, which makes sense. This episode premiered years before L.A. Noire was released.
There was yet another actor that caught my eye, not in terms of acting but rather familiarity. As in me: recognizing him. The actor was Michael Gaston. There's just something about him, man. His voice, the way he delivers his performances; I don't know. But something about him seems to immediately give you an impression, regardless of whether the character he's playing is a "bad guy." Do you know what I mean?
Maybe it's because the only two roles of his that I'm familiar with, he played a bad guy. Thomas Carter in Blindspot and Gale Bertram in The Mentalist; I'm less familiarized with the latter. Was his character in that show even a bad guy? It's been much longer since I've watched whatever episodes of The Mentalist he was in; his role in Blindspot is in recent memory.
Anyways, he caught my eye, and it was nice seeing him show up in this episode. Also, for some reason, he reminds me of Noah Emmerich a little bit: specifically, Stan Beeman from The Americans. Well, from the little bits I've seen of that character: I haven't watched The Americans yet. Something about Michael's general acting performances gives off a similar vibe. That's a little something else that came to mind. I wonder if anyone else has gotten that feeling of similarity between the two actors.
Yeah, this episode was better than the previous two. It was pretty simple. With this case, the storytelling unfolded to where all you could do was watch it happen. There was no room for theorizing about who the culprit was. You had to wait for the episode to reveal it, although once the final act was at hand, it was predictable and easy to tell who it was before the characters came to that conclusion. But even though that may pose a problem for some people, I thought this episode was enjoyable, as was watching everything unfold. It was a nice and refreshing change from the somewhat lackluster previous episodes.
I liked this first episode. I am a huge fan of the original and have watched every episode thanks to my parents' DVD collection.
The character of Ben seems interesting. He doesn't feel like an exact copy of Sam except for knowing multiple languages. I'll be interested to see how much more is done with his character. I like the change of his hologram being his fiancé. I kept seeing people complain about it but I'd rather something different than just having a repeat of the Al & Sam dynamic.
Setting some scenes with Project Quantum Leap themselves was pretty cool. In the original series, we would get maybe one or two looks at what was going on from that perspective. That being said, there was one scene in that space that felt off to me. Maybe it was just the ways the lines were being read but I found it awkward.
The actual time travel was a simple one this time around but I find that completely fine. There were plenty of episodes of the original that had even lower stakes than this. From the preview shown at the end, it seems like they have a lot of more interesting leaps planned ahead which I'm excited to see.
Overall, this was a decent start to the series. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
The one 16 year old girl says she's supposed to be "this great detective", the other 16 year old girl buys a bar and trades it for a diner and the third 16 year old gets crowned king of the Serpents. I don't think the writers even remember their ages at this point.
I'm not happy with the way this whole Black Hood season ended. It really feels like the writers had no idea who they wanted to put under the hood and halfway through the season they heard the theory of Hal being the Black Hood and they decided to roll with it like two episodes before the finale. For once there are no subtle hints for it to be him before episode 20 and on the other hand the whole reasoning and execution at the end felt hollow and cheap, especially the part about THE DARKNESS™. I thought at least one of the adults would finally address this as mental illness, but nope. Don't think we'll ever get to see any of them in therapy either.
Three things that I'm curious about - Chic, Alice's dead son and Polly.
Chic just disappeared and we still don't know anything. Was there even a point to begin with? I thought his creepiness would be relevant somehow, but nothing happened. I'm wondering if he'll come back next season.
Then there's Alice's dead son. I was actually thinking he's not dead because we really didn't get to see anything about him. It felt really tragic to know that Alice saw him and closed the door in his face, but I thought it would connect more with the overall story or with Chic.
And then there's Polly who definitely had something going on. I wonder if we know this mysterious guy who helped her or if her mother will get dragged into a weird cult. And I actually find this much more interesting than the cliffhanger that Archie is arrested (I was sure there would be some bloodshed after Jug's weird announcement) and Hiram is still planning to deal drugs on the New Southside. I was actually hoping for him to leave Riverdale or go to prison at the end of the season, but apparently his cheap mobster story will continue.
And even after all these complaints every week I'm still excited to watch new episodes and do enjoy it. It's over the top and crazy but at the same time I find it so entertaining :D
The Final Countdown seems to be two different entertainment options edited in to a fairly good film. What I mean is you have your Hollywood movie with the fascinating premise of a U.S. Navy captain facing the dilemma of the history paradox. When the U.S.S. Nimitz enters a temporal disturbance(cheezy effect) the ship is sent to Dec. 6th, 1941. Captain Yelland(Douglass) must decide whether to interfere with the imminent Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This piece of the movie is probably 3 stars. The second level of the movie is a documentary on super carriers before there was a History Channel. It was as if the second unit just filmed everything that happens on a carrier and they used as much as they could. For 1980, a lot of this stuff had not been seen before. As an example, I cite the scene where they do an in-air refueling of two F-14's. Not really necessary to our story. Lots of takeoff/landings and the part where one of the planes' tailhook won't come down so he lands with the arresting straps also very cool but off script. I would recommend this as a unique view of the time travel conundrum and for the very nicely shot documentary.
The Rookie as a cop show has been interesting on a number of levels. Like all cop shows it's steeped in copaganda so hard you really can't divorce it from the very premises it sustains. That said when you look past that there's something there. It's been amusing, disappointing and confusing trying to watch it, as a show, react. I wouldn't dare suggest it's one of the best procedurals or even one of the most popular or most expensive but it's compelling. Even when it does make everything about Detective Nolan. ONe of the biggest questions about a show with a premise that breaks with graduation is where does it go from here.
They've teased it before, they've tried and failed before but they're introducing a new rookie. This rookie like Nolan sticks out. And like Nolan, they're going to treat this rookie like a robot expecting them to get over all their issues "OR ELSE". It's weirdly performative insisting that the LAPD are trained with a soldier's discipline. I'm resisting the urge to go into how different that is from reality and why it matters that these shows insist that police both need compmassion and are super human, again. But i'm very invested in seeing how this rookie will affect the dynamic.
Gone campy
If I didn't have such fond memories of this show from my childhood, I probably would have jumped off here. This episode was way too campy. The show looked like it started taking some cues from the American Batman TV series that would have been on at the same time. There were screen pop-ups and even Spider had a lame scene where he coughed smoke after the briefcase had exploded.
The Gigantic Claw...hmmm...well it wasn't the worst we've seen until this point. It did have a few special attacks when it shot missiles and also launched some kind of rope that ensnared giant robot. Started to get a bit confused about giant robot's link to Johnny Sokko. Sometimes giant robot fights perfectly normally without Johnny there. At others, he can only perform basic moves. In another case, he went to a complete standstill. Just saying.
The special effects here were terrible. Pay attention to the spinout of the Gargoyle car. The claw was not as bad as the normal miniaturization effects. Finally they seem to be getting the monster right. It was really good to see U5 have a part in the story and get some decent screen time.
Far from the worst...
This installment had a lot of firsts for the series but the monster / storyline seemed pretty formulaic. We have now learned the female agent's name is Mitsuko. Someone must have told the writers to get her more involved because for three episodes, she barely existed and now we have a story that revolves around her since it is her brother who is in peril in Arabia that they must save. We also learn the secret Unicorn ID process and that all Gargoyle agents have a bomb in their chests that explodes when they begin to give information. Giant robot uses the radion eye ray attack for the first time. It was strange how he struggled with the neck chain from Ligon-Tyrox and then had no effects from the forehead drill penetrating his outer shell. The plot to destroy the oil fields seems very prophetic in retrospect as the world has been held hostage by oil since the early 1970's. Where did Johnny get the genie clothes and bomb from? Same level of cheese as usual from the squad but with the change in venue to the Middle East and a somewhat tight plot line this episode isn't too bad.
So much going on...
Where to start? Of course everyone knew Raj and Divya were not going through with their wedding plans. I felt like it was kind of a copout for her to use the fates and the plague as the reason for her decision but it was there all along. Their nitpicky fighting while learning the tango would have been how their marriage was.
Jill leaving for six months just when she and Hank seemed like they were rekindling their relationship was fairly unexpected. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I like Jill very much but not necessarily with Hank. This tied to the medical part of the show with Hank catching a misdiagnosis of Ben with Lyme disease which had been confused with MS. That guy did not seem very appreciative almost like he was reluctant to give up the MS and his slogan, "I am not my disease".
What about Eddy? His difficult decision to do the time or accept Boris' offer of a life of freedom without his family. We'll have to wait and see... This show has become one of the best on TV. Too bad it is buried in the summer slump.
I got really worried when this started off like every other movie of this genre. Submarine travelling in the deep making some kind of electronic pinging sound(which they don't). But that isn't what troubled me. In the establishment shot it says they are in the Aegean Sea at 200 hours. They couldn't even get that right. It is said zero two hundred. That is how you do military time. No hours. Need the zero in front or it could be mistaken for 2000 which is 8 PM instead of 2 AM. Then there is the usual garbage like the leader of the seal team being called Captain but wearing the rank of a Lieutenant. The same collar device means captain in the other three branches but not in the Navy. Navy personnel do not salute indoors. Or uncovered. Or say Ten Hut to mean come to attention. In addition they are not wearing seal pins. Not sure what that is but it looks like air wing. Also, SEAL teams are not all officers. One only with the others being enlisted men. OK. Off my soapbox. The movie was terrible. They did have a pretty large special effects budget. Tons of real looking explosions. They do not seem to mourn the loss of their comrades very adamantly.
Heading in to this movie, I was expecting a large cheese factor based on what the cable info button told me about the flick: "A washed up baseball player heads home following the death of an old friend." I don't think that captures the spirit of the movie at all. Firstly, I wouldn't really refer to Billy as a washed up baseball player. You would at one point had to have been someone to earn the right to be called washed up. We learn in the movie that he quits AA ball when he drops a flyball and his team loses. Not much of a ball player there. I will agree that he is washed up, but as a person. Secondly, I wouldn't really call Katie an old friend of his. She was so much more. It started with her being his babysitter, then friend, then teacher, and then lover for a few brief days. Then she is out of his life for I'd guess around 15 years. With that aside, their story is nicely done. The whole time I had a nostalgic "The Big Chill" feel inside when everyone gets together to remember their suicidal friend but this movie was different since Katie was a large part of the flashback sequences. Jodie Foster was outstanding as usual and steals every scene she is in. Mark Harmon is at his best once he is given the ashes, you sense he understands the mission but would rather not have to deal with it because he could possibly have ended up like Katie. I would recommend this movie. There are a lot of 5 * reviews here but you have to know it's not one of the greatest of all time. There are a couple of really cool bit parts in this one. Watch for Helen Hunt as Billy's grown up pregnant sister and also the seductress who gets to Jonathan Silverman is one of the aunts from Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
As I watched this movie, I was amazed at just how far Drew Barrymore has come. She really hit rock bottom in the early 1990's getting constantly cast as the "bad girl" in nearly every flick she was in. Her image didn't start to take a turn for the better until "The Wedding Singer". But I digress. Drew was a just a little too weird in this movie. I know she had some mental health issues, but what exactly was she rebelling against? Her parents seemed to be ultra cool, she was a high schooler with her own wheels and freedom to do almost anything she wanted. I was a little confused by Chris O'Donnell character also. He seemed to be very happy in his role as the "parent" to his two younger siblings and his goal of being an astronomer. But I guess the movie isn't called "Mad Love" for nothing. He is a better man than I for putting up with the mood swings Casey would go through on their escape trip. When she got their car wrecked I surely would have lost it. When it became clear that she really did need medical help, he still refused to take her back but by that time, I guess he felt that they were in to deep. Like I said, this isn't one of Drew's better works. You would have to wait a few more years after this movie for that
