Watching order
Because there are some issues with watching this, here is the order.
Copying from the site in case it ever goes down, but this info came from here: http://thunderpeel2001.blogspot.com/2010/02/battlestar-galactica-viewing-order.html
It's probably more confusing here on trakt, so go to the above linked site for a better layout.
The Miniseries
Night 1
Night 2
Season 1
1.01 33
1.02 Water
1.03 Bastille Day
1.04 Act of Contrition
1.05 You Can't Go Home Again
1.06 Litmus
1.07 Six Degrees of Separation
1.08 Flesh and Bone
1.09 Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
1.10 The Hand of God
1.11 Colonial Day
1.12 Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I
1.13 Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II
Season 2
2.01 Scattered
2.02 Valley of Darkness
2.03 Fragged
2.04 Resistance
2.05 The Farm
2.06 Home, Part I
2.07 Home, Part II
2.08 Final Cut
2.09 Flight of the Phoenix
2.10 Pegasus (56 minute extended version)
2.11 Resurrection Ship, Part I
2.12 Resurrection Ship, Part II
2.13 Epiphanies
2.14 Black Market
2.15 Scar
2.16 Sacrifice
2.17 The Captain's Hand
Razor (101 minute extended version - not the 81 minute broadcast version)
Important note: This was originally broadcast just before Season 4, but chronologically it fits here, telling more of the Pegasus's story. Some people argue it's better to watch after Season 3, as originally broadcast, but it makes most sense to watch it here.
The reason that the placement of Razor is a hotly contested issue among BSG fans is because of a bit of dialogue at the very end (in the last 10 minutes) which sets the tone for Season 4 (barely even a spoiler). Everything else in this TV movie is not a spoiler.
So why place it here, and not where it was originally broadcast, if there's any sort of issue? Because, chronologically, the story is set here, and by the time you reach the end of Season 3, the story of Pegasus will feel like ancient history. Indeed, that was the complaint echoed around the internet from fans after Razor originally aired -- it had nothing to do with what was going on in the story at that time.
As a result of this, most fans agree it's better to watch Razor here. In doing so, you'll appreciate the story more and it will have greater emotionally resonance. In short: I highly recommend that you follow my advice and watch it here.
There is one small caveat, however: In order to deal with the above dialogue issue, and so not to unintentionally alter the tone of Season 3, I have two, very specific instructions that I recommend that you follow for your absolute optimum enjoyment.
I will try not to spoil anything with these instructions, so pay attention. You need to press MUTE on your TV (and/or turn off any subtitles) in the following two moments. Both of these moments occur in the last 10 minutes of the story, so you can relax and enjoy the first 90 mins before you need to worry.
Press MUTE when:
and shortly afterwards:
That's it! That's all you have to worry about. Two very small moments, and even if you don't unmute it, it's not a huge spoiler, it just unintentionally alters the tone of Season 3 if you don't, so do try your best to follow my instructions.
2.18 Downloaded
2.19 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I
2.20 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II
The Resistance
A 10 episode web-based series bridging seasons 2 and 3. (25 mins.)
Season 3
3.01 Occupation
3.02 Precipice
3.03 Exodus, Part I
3.04 Exodus, Part II
3.05 Collaborators
3.06 Torn
3.07 A Measure of Salvation
3.08 Hero
3.09 Unfinished Business (70 minute extended version - Note: Not included on Region 2 DVDs, but is included on ALL Bluray releases.)
3.10 The Passage
3.11 The Eye of Jupiter
3.12 Rapture
3.13 Taking a Break From All Your Worries
3.14 The Woman King
3.15 A Day in the Life
3.16 Dirty Hands
3.17 Maelstrom
3.18 The Son Also Rises
3.19 Crossroads, Part I
3.20 Crossroads, Part II
Razor: Yes, this again. (Well this is where Razor was originally broadcast, after all.) Remember the last 10 minutes where I told you to MUTE two small moments? Well, guess what, now is when you get to go back and hear what was said. Watch the last 10 minutes of Razor here.
Season 4
4.01 He That Believeth In Me
4.02 Six of One
4.03 The Ties That Bind
4.04 Escape Velocity
4.05 The Road Less Traveled
4.06 Faith
4.07 Guess What's Coming to Dinner?
4.08 Sine Qua Non
4.09 The Hub
4.10 Revelations
Season 4 Continued (aka "Season 4.5" or "The Final Season")
4.11 Sometimes a Great Notion
The Face of the Enemy
A 10 episode web-based series (although it plays together like an intense mini-episode). (36 mins.)
4.12 A Disquiet Follows My Soul (53 minute extended version - only on Bluray releases)
4.13 The Oath
4.14 Blood on the Scales
4.15 No Exit
The Plan (DVD/Bluray movie)
A stand-alone movie that shows (approximately) the first two seasons from the Cylons' perspective. (You finally get to see "The Plan", mentioned all those times in the opening sequence!) Although The Plan was originally released after the show had finished, it is generally agreed that it should be watched here, so that everything is all tied up when you do reach the end.
4.16 Deadlock
4.17 Someone to Watch Over Me
4.18 Islanded In a Stream of Stars (62 minute extended version - only on BluRay releases and Region 1 DVDs)
4.19 Daybreak (150 minute extended version - only on BluRay releases and Region 1 DVDs)
The Plan : This is where this DVD/Bluray movie was originally released (after the show had finished). It seems universally agreed that it's preferable to watch this after No Exit, instead of after you've finished the entire series, but there's no harm in waiting until now.
Then Caprica the series: http://trakt.tv/show/caprica
Denis Villeneuve is the man!
There’s only one word that came into my mind after watching it: finally.
Finally, a blockbuster that isn’t afraid to be primarily driven by drama and tension, and doesn’t undercut its own tone by throwing in a joke every 30 seconds.
Finally, a blockbuster that puts actual effort in its cinematography, and doesn’t have a bland or calculated colour palette.
Finally, a blockbuster with a story that has actual substance and themes, and doesn’t rely on intertextual references or nostalgia to create a fake sheen of depth.
Finally, a blockbuster that doesn’t pander to China by having big, loud and overblown action sequences, but relies on practical and grounded spectacle instead (it has big sand worms, you really don’t need to throw anything at the screen besides that).
Finally, a blockbuster that actually feels big, because it isn’t primarily shot in close ups, or on a sound stage.
And of course: finally, a blockbuster that isn’t a fucking prequel, sequel, or connected to an already established IP somehow.
(Yeah, I know Tenet did those things as well, but I couldn’t get into that because the characters were so flat and uninteresting).
This just checks all the boxes. An engaging story with subtext, very well set up characters, great acting (like James Gunn, Villeneuve's great at accentuating the strengths of limited actors like Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa), spectecular visuals and art design (desaturated but not in an ugly washed out way), pacing (slow but it never drags), directing, one of Hans Zimmer’s best scores: it’s all here.
I only have one real criticism: there’s too much exposition, especially in the first half.
It can occasionally hold your hand by referencing things that have already been established previously, and some scenes of characters explaining stuff to each other could’ve been conveyed more visually.
Other than that, it’s easily one of the best films of the year.
I’ve seen some people critiquing it for being incomplete, which is true, but this isn’t just a set up for a future film.
It feels like a whole meal, there are pay offs in this, and the characters progress (even if, yes, their arcs are still incomplete).
8.5/10
Non spoiler review of the marvels. ->it's a fun movie
Imagine you're a teenager who likes superheros and want to be a superhero. Then one day you become part of the adventure of your favorite superhero.
Kamala was as charming in the movie as she was in the ms marvel show. It's a fun adventure with good cast
Kamala shows that she is a superhero through and through putting other's first before herself. Nick fury is the same fun guy from captain marvel 1.
I liked Carol Danvers performance in this movie more than part 1 because she gets more opportunities to show her talent in action scenes in this movie (Action scenes are creative). She is also a joy person here unlike suppressed woman who lost her identity in part 1
I liked carol Danvers when she was spending time with nick fury in part 1. But here kamala, carol and monica chemistry is better than 3 Spiderman chemistry. I'm saying this as Spiderman fan.
Monica also gets more screen time to shine in action and emotional scenes.
I like kamala family but them feeling normal with all the aliens drama feels little artificial. I know they dealt with aliens in the ms marvel show.
I didn't understand why critics were mad at the movie. First 10 mins of the movie feels like a chore to watch. But once the gimmick of them switching places starts it's a fun ride. There was a big lag because of the exposition in middle of the movie. I was not a big fan of musicals. Action was good and story was good. It's entertaining, short and sweet. Both post credit scenes were cool.
I don't know what else you want from mcu.
At least this one is entertaining. Despite the fact that it mainly warns us about the dangers of adolescent popstar live.
It's also very long to start. Its 1h10 could easily be packed into 45 minutes. The whole Rachel awkard teen's story and how she can so easily be influenced by a toy telling her to believe in herself is way too long. First as usual with this type of character, I have a very hard type believing that a girl that looks like her would be in this situation at school. And it's not like she's even useful in anything as a character. She's just a plot device. She wants the Ashley Too, and she wants to do what she says. That's it. She's such a huge fan and that's her whole character. OK, the fact that she says that when face to face with Ashley that is tied to her bed and just woke up from a coma a few seconds ago, that's funny. But she doesn't do a single thing. She's in a back fangirling while Jack drives. She does nothing while Ashley Too unplugs the real one and Jack is handling the bodyguard. She does nothing at the end while Jack is actually playing with her idol. Such a loooong exposition for a character that has nothing to do after. I mean it goes through all the cliches and then deliver nothing...
I'm not really in the Miley Cyrus demographic, never seen her, maybe heard one song, I mostly have seen her in tabloids stories. But wow, I found her very good. As the cheery popstar, as the depressed ex child star (but maybe they're not such composition roles) and very much as the robot voice. Through the whole beginning the only interesting parts were hers, and the real story starts at Ashley Too's awakening.
This second part was fun, though it looked more part of a teen show than a BM episode.
As for the tech part, it's a lot less dark than usual. There's basically no downside. Previous season had a way harsher treatment on the duplicating consciousness thing. That was a constant theme in last season, with very dramatic to horrific consequences, but here it's like they wanted to show, look, it can be fun too. Very not Black Mirrory.
However it's not like we're talking about every day technology as it is usually the case. Even in this world, the tech used seems to be revolutionary. And that makes no sense in the story. So the aunt, or her company, or people who work for her anyway, manages to map an entire mind, industrial scale, and they use it for... a pop star doll ? Also it was cheaper to have a miniature doll with the capacity of containing and running the whole thing and put a limiter on it, than to just map and put the tiny part you want to use ?
Then their holographic tech, that seems pretty good too. Though weird moment when Catherine is in front of the (probably mostly teenage fangirls) audience and does her Apple keynote, being happy to be back into the most lucrative part of the business. She actually says that. Not at a tech investor meeting, in front of the live audience. Also fully customizable (even her clothes!) and scalable, like that's not the easiest part of an hologram.
And then there's this machine that allows to decipher songs from the brain of a coma patient ! That's fucking amazing. The applications just for medecine, are unimaginable. And the other ways it could be exploited...
I can think of a thousand ways to make a shitload of money with that without needing to drug your niece into a coma ! They litterally invent technology worth hundreds of billions of dollars just to make a few millions out of a teenage pop star ! Pretty weird when the aunt's character is just presented as being driven by money.
And what's with the dad's machine ? It shows a brain, so I thought he was working on rat's brains, but he just has a small rat chasing robot ? And, without knowing anything (it's repeated enough), you can plug a toy, see it's brain and edit the limiter on it ? That was worse than any hacking scene in movie history, but maybe it was a joke on that ? Didn't feel like it.
Anyway, by far the best episode of the season, but that's not saying much. And still not a Black Mirror episode. I rate it 7 because it was entertaning, but if I was to rate it as if it was a BM episode, that would be lower.
A real BM episode would have gone over the spying part of the Ashley Too technology. A lot to do with that alone. And like I already said, all the brain mapping thing, there was a lot of ways to exploit that, though it was kinda alredy done in last season, there were still lots of possibilities.
Kinda liked the suggestion that if you're not kept under hallucinogenics drugs you would real music instead of pop :)
Oh, this was fantastic. Such an intense episode that also did a great job of getting me excited for the next season.
"Haven't you learned anything this year... week... season?"
"It's the end of the season, er, semester."
Fourth wall? What fourth wall?
Shirley's tale of woe complete with seductive poses made me cry with laughter.
I'm really sad that we watched the Quagmires' daring escape and journey from Peru back to their home just for them to perish in a fire. I knew it was coming, but it still hurt.
That musical number at the end was unexpected, but I loved it. Somehow it just fit right in with the rest of the weirdness and absurdity.
Overall, this was an amazing season. All the actors were superb in their roles. Shoutout to Patrick Warburton in particular for being the perfect Lemony Snicket. His smooth voice and calm, somewhat deadpan delivery were exactly what I'd hoped for. NPH IS Count Olaf. He absolutely nailed the role. Malina Weissman and Louis Heyes were a bit stiff and awkward at times, but I still think they did an excellent job, especially considering that they're both just 13 years old and have very little acting experience. I'm sure they're just going to get better with age. And Sunny... Sunny is wonderful. I love her. I love all three of them, actually. They're my children now. I'm going to protect them and keep them safe and comfortable. They're going to eat ice cream for dinner. Their bedtime is never.
Nicely done CBS. Deftly blended in some characters (1 this episode) and iconography from TOS to squelch the discord from the nattering, canon fascist nabobs, and pique the curiosity of the undecided, while still remaining PRE-TOS and advancing the original "Discovery" premise. Well played..., well played indeed.
Of course the "purists" will be quick to point out everything wrong with this episode, just as they have all along, insisting that this is a show we shouldn't enjoy because it's not Trekie enough, or TOO futuristic for the timeline, or too politically correct, or too violent, or too gay, when perhaps the real problem is with those whose cranial contents simply haven't evolved enough to grasp the actual depth and awesomeness of the show.
Star Trek has ALWAYS been about "going BOLDLY where no man has gone before" yet, sadly, there are those who desperately try to squeeze it into the confines of what THEY say is correct, and would have the writer and producers restricted to the same tried, true, and BORING stories that were fed to the masses starting almost 50 years ago. Now imagine if they were allowed to restrict technology, or commerce, or just about any facet of life to where it was 5 decades ago. I for one like and embrace the changes that have occurred both IRL and on our screens of all various shapes and sizes. Just as I am willing to give each new generation of Star Trek writers the benefit of the doubt, and the chance to not just copy and paste, but to stretch the limits of possibility and imagination, and take us on new adventures, and to new frontiers.
If that gets some purists canonical panties in a wedgie, well, so be it. But I for one am willing to suspend disbelief, buckle up, lower my shields and enjoy the ride.
As for the episode itself, several nice head fakes, when those familiar with TOS would be expecting certain things to occur but... gotcha!
Kudos to Sonequa Martin-Green for continuing to evolve her portrayal of Michael Burnham, and showing some emotions when appropriate. To the always delightful Mary Wiseman, who, as newly minted officer trainee Tilly is "incandescent" as ever and never fails to make me smile when she's on screen. Anthony Rapp's Staments, is of course going through the stages of grief, and, had me worried for a moment, but, it looks like something new is about to bring him out of his funk. Doug Jones Saru, was, well... Saru, and, believe me when I say, I mean that as a GOOD thing. Anson Mount pulled his weight as Captain Pike, doing a yeoman's job of restraint when stepping into such an iconic (if short lived) role. And the addition of Tig Notaro's deadpan wit and whip-smart timing (as well as her characters apparent next level engineering chops) might have her hanging out in the Montgomery Scott wing of the Discovery, we shall see.
Overall a really good season premier, and, from the looks of the upcoming clips, it's gonna be fun.
Maybe I’m one of the few who really enjoyed this episode, and I’m just saddened that this is the case.
“Time to Fly” is a action based episode to show in few dialogue the dynamics between Ashoka and Sabine, a dynamic which we only hear offscreen but so far never seen it.
The chase is the part where both of them need to find common ground and survive together. Sabine must put aside her frustration in her training and Ahsoka must start believing more in Sabine’s insights. When they finally start to listen to each other, they are able to flee and with 20 min you can feel that they had done this many times before and cast light over a relationship crucial to this show and to the plot it is creating. With few episodes I believe this was necessary, as much as the Mandalorian Episode where Grogu eats Spider eggs while Mando tries to free the ship from the ice. Few dialogues, storytelling by action. [Which is also written by Filoni]
Ahsoka space lightsaber fight was something never done before in Star Wars tv and movies and it was thrilling to see and the Huyang perception of Sabine as one of a line of Jedi’s who defies the common Jedi rules (Dooku>Qui-Gon>Obi Wan> Anakin > Ahsoka)
Was a nice new point of view on Sabine being a Padawan.
The chase is not about the stakes or the survival of the characters. The story plays as it is being told to you after they survived, and you want to know how. How one single ship on enemy space scape 6 ships and three heavy cannons and lived tell their story. It’s not about the stakes of who will leave or not, but what they will endure until they find their friend.
We also have an insight on why Ahsoka trained Sabine and how she perceives Sabine and the use of the force as something anybody can do, going beyond the Jedi order. She is not training Sabine as a Jedi Padawan, but as a Rogue force user apprentice. This breaks again the binary viewing of the force and help expands the notion of Ahsoka being a renegade gray Jedi.
Not only this, but after Rebels and Andor, seeing the rise of the rebel alliance and with Mandalorian seeing the inefficiency of the New republic, the Hera and Chancellor part of the episode showed the sense of suspicion of the new senate and how they were able to allow the first order to return.
Amazing episode with a lot done in 37 minutes and few dialogues. A feast to the eyes with the chase between the Purgills, thrilling to see how Sabine and Ahsoka worked to fight the enemies and new information to the plot of the series that just make this really really interesting!
Can’t wait to see where this is going!
[10/10] You don’t get many perfect episodes of television. There are outstanding, tremendous, fantastic, episodes of television, but almost all of them has some non-de minimis thing you might change, or you might liked to have seen done differently, or just didn’t reach as high as it might have.
But I can’t think of anything I would change about “Leslie and Ron.” (Maybe the lock-in scheme is a hair contrived, but it’s so vital to the core of the episode that I can find no fault in it.) It is twenty-two minutes of pure gold, of two great actors, and an excellent writers’ room, not only taking a big risk by devoting an extended episode with just a pair of characters having a conversation more or less, but nailing some of the show’s key themes and relationships in the process.
Let’s start with that -- the boldness of what Parks did here. It wasn’t the first show to put two characters in a room together to hash things out, and it wouldn’t be the last, but it’s still a high wire act to keep the audience entertained and compelled the whole way through. Managing to not only pull that off, but to resolve the simmering feud between Leslie and Ron and explore and reaffirm what makes them work as friends and their personal journeys is an achievement.
Then there’s the reveals. We finally learn what Morningstar is, and with it, why Leslie is so upset. The episode does a nice job at setting up that reveal, establishing the timeline of how Leslie and Ron’s relationship soured, without necessarily giving us all the detail. We learn about Ron leaving the Parks department, about him starting his own building and contracting company (without saying anything to Leslie) and then what did it.
After Leslie and Ron had already drifted apart, Ron agreed to service a project that would not only block the views of Pawnee Commons, but which would tear down Ann’s old house, without saying anything. It becomes understandable why Leslie was and is so hurt and angry. The Pawnee Commons is Leslie’s signature achievement and one of the touchstones of the show, and Ann is not only tied to that, but her house has sentimental value to Leslie as the site of so many important events. Of course Leslie would be wounded and upset by that, in a way that could even rattle the seemingly rock solid friendship between her and Ron.
The episode does well to let that hang in the air for a while, with only a cryptic “there’s more to the story” to tease the audience a bit. It then gives us some traditional Ron and Leslie hijinks, involving post-it notes, sprinklers, gag claymores, and most importantly, horrible singalongs to “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” It’s a great reminder that for as powerful an episode as this is, it’s still really damn funny, with some gags (like the claymore) that pay off longstanding bits on the show, some like Leslie’s pestering and Ron’s stoicism that feel deeply rooted in the characters, and some like them palling around afterward that are just silly fun.
It’s in this interpersonal mayhem that Leslie digs out her original application for the Parks Dept. job and Ron’s evaluation of her, and the show offers an explication of what makes these two people, who are otherwise always butting heads, work so well together. Ron instantly sized-up Leslie, identifying her as someone with views on government that were anathema to him, an attitude that was sharply contrasted from his own, and demeanor that meant she would always be a thorn in his side. But he said “hire her” anyway, even after she gave him a vociferous lecture on the value of government at her interview, because he respected that. He may disagree with Leslie but she was tough, and challenging, and stood up for what she believed in, and that made her admirable and worthwhile regardless of what she believed.
That’s why the two of them work. They may not always see eye-to-eye, and their views may be different, but their values are the same. They appreciate each other’s commitment; they see one another’s kindness and decency, and even when they’re not on the same page, they can understand and respect why each of them does what they do.
That just leaves one piece of the mystery -- why is Ron upset? The answer is a surprising but, in retrospect, completely natural one. Ron doesn’t like change. As he’s said time and again, he wants to keep things the way they are as much as possible. So when Leslie left for the third floor, taking April and Jerry with her, when Tom and Donna left to pursue their businesses, he suddenly looked up and didn’t know anyone anymore. He won’t say it -- but Leslie will -- he missed his friends.
And there is no greater sign, no truer proof of that, than the fact that he went to ask Leslie for a job. Against all the times he professed not to care about his “work proximity associates,” all the times he protested their presence and annoying ways, when they were taken away from him, he would stomach working for (gulp) the federal government just to be with them again. It is a testament to the lengths Ron was willing to go, a personal sacrifice in a sense, that he was ready to make in the name of something he would barely acknowledge.
When he tried to do that, Leslie was too busy for it. It wasn’t intentional; it wasn’t malicious; it was just a product of the hectic life Leslie Knope was leading. But it hurt, and it made Ron feel even more isolated from his old friends, and willing to take on jobs that he knew would hurt them too.
Suddenly, Leslie and Ron understand each other once more. They both apologize, both acknowledge how they’ve wounded the other, and proceed to have the most touching “let’s clean this crap up and set things back to the way they were” montage you’ve ever seen, set to Ron’s favorite Willie Nelson tune.
When the pair are freed, he offers one last gesture of friendship -- a picture of the two of them together, contained in a frame Ron made out of Ann’s old front door. It’s a sign of contrition from Mr. Swanson, and also of the fact that even when he and Leslie were on the outs, there was a part of him that knew this would mean something to his dearest friend, and preserved this in a way that only he could. The two walk off to eat together, delighting in their shared love of breakfast food, with a side hug that could melt permafrost. It is a finish that is touching, earned, and true to who these two people are and have been for seven seasons.
In the end, the friendship between Leslie and Ron is the show’s most foundational relationship. Leslie’s friendship with Ann may have started the show, and her marriage to Ben is a source of great comedy and heart, but through it all, there has been Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson, proving that you can be almost polar opposite in terms of your politics, perspective, and demeanor, but that if you share the same principles (and affinity for breakfast food) you can still be vital, endearing friends in one another’s lives.
That idea -- the notion of mutual respect, reasonable minds differing, and friendship cutting through even the most entrenched personal and partisan ideas, is Parks and Rec’s legacy, and “Leslie and Ron” is the perfect encapsulation of it and a perfect episode of television.
Having the unique crowded style that is Robert Rodriguez's flair, this movie suffers from two great creator's tales forming into a clouded mess. James Cameron, known for his epic scales, and Rodriguez's small budget work don't mix well here. In fact, if it wasn't for Rodriguez's understanding of the importance of the world here, it might not have worked at all. But with the fluidity that he brings to the streets of Iron City, it breathes life in a chaotic marvel of special effects and set design.
Which is the standout aspect of this movie, the world design. Crafted with care as you can see this is a story that the creators want to be told right. Unfortunately, it left the characters and plot short. The environment is a lovely thing to admire, and to wonder about. But once again, it is sad to see the wonder be all that you get.
This film is a build up that never completes itself. Sure, Alita has an okay arc, and other characters have some motivation. But it falls flat when you build and build that you don't focus on this story as it's own, and instead let it be a setup film for potential sequels. It has great ideas and wonderous action. However, it leaves ideas behind as fast as it gets there. Built up to be a big thing, but then getting a tangent to something else. Leaving me feeling unsatisfied. Though, the main moral fixated with Alita is actually quite good and gives that unsatisfied feeling some meaning, but not enough to justify it.
Alita is the best character here, I found no others to be compelling enough to care for. This may be a factor of pacing shifting too fast or slowly in many cases, as I don't get the feeling enough time was spent with the right characters. Doctor Ido's arc is completely finished by the first half and is left behind for the remainder of the film. Others are just there for filler and have no impact on the story.
Alita: Battle Angel is good for action, as it is directed decently and has little to no shakycam. The main character is a strong female lead and has a very unique world and backstory. If a sequel does happen, I only hope they make it a contained film and actually give us a fascinating plot.
5/10
Well, that was a ride. The episode draws from a huge amount of Trek backstory and crafts something bursting with emotion. I think that the the view of Picard's face lining up with the classic image of Locutus is one of the most arresting shots ever done in Star Trek.
Patrick Stewart is completely on form throughout, and it's hard to pick one singular moment that stood above the rest. From his anger about the Borg while speaking with Agnes, to his PTSD when first arriving on the Cube, to his genuine happiness at seeing Hugh again and all the work he's doing, this consistently feels like the Jean-Luc Picard we all knew. He's shown first hand that disconnected Borg are not the monsters he had assumed. Small bursts of moments from First Contact were used effectively, including an unexpected glimpse dof the Queen. The terror of what he experienced may never fully go away despite the strides we saw him make over the years, and it rings true.
Other random thoughts:
I don't know where all the negative comments are coming from. I loved this sequel.
The Matrix Resurrections keeps to the theme of the original movie, while leveraging plot points from the previous sequels to resurrect the Neo :heart: Trinity love story after 20 years (according to the movie timeline it's 60 years) .
The Matrix movie critics love to over-intellectualize the philosophy of the story arcs and characters. Over the last 20 years, I've heard critics trying to justify religion (ex: Buddhism) using the Matrix movies. Today, reading the comments here, this seems to have evolved into people trying to explain transgenderism using The Matrix (maybe because the creators of Matrix are transgender?).
I always believed that these movies oppose group think and are about breaking free from hive-minds and intellectual-echo-chambers (aka The Matrix). For example, Twitter today, with its Leftist cancel mobs, is a great example of a Matrix. Every time I read about a famous person getting "cancelled" or "de-platformed" by a social media platform, I picture an image of Neo being dragged out of the embryonic sac and getting violently unplugged by machines and thrown away (from the original Matrix movie).
For me, as a career software engineer, The Matrix movies are also about algorithms and logic. The unpredictability of a code base as it gets larger and complex. Eventually, leading to anomalies and vulnerabilities. I loved Neil Patrick Harris' performance as the new Architect of the Matrix. What a legend!
Is the franchise getting stale? Absolutely. It's a formula movie franchise. I watched all Fast and the Furious movies and the spin-offs too. I'm not the one to judge. :rofl:
From last episode’s eye popping escapes, and amping up story wise, we come to this lovely little point in the tale.
Although it lacks the action of the previous episode, it provides this clever counterpoint theme around Miller’s lack of drinking and Holden’s hunt for a cup of coffee, which is perfectly expressed on Holden’s face during the final moments.
Our wider view grows of “The Butcher of Anderson Station” and what does and doesn’t lie in wait at Tycho Station grows, as does the newly minted crew of the Rocinante’s loyalties and clearly democratic structure. For now at any rate.
I do think Miller’s haircut is ridiculous, and his hat foolish, but there’s something dogged and admirable about his character regardless of his jaded anti-hero leanings. His now blatant adoration of Julie Mao is making him a better man already as is evident with his laying off the drink, and he’s on her trail still, getting closer and closer. Dangerously close, I’d say.
I continue to adore Holden’s stubbly jawbone, and crinkly laugh lines. Amos and Alex, I am also digging, and Naomi’s still so damn mysterious as any self-respecting woman should be, that it’s hard not to cheer and gasp at their twists and turns of fate. Despite last episode’s shocking kill off of Shed, I doubt we will lose any more of the survivors from the Cant, at least not this season. This is clearly the core group of antagonists.
All in all this episode tautly advances the story without ever slipping into exposition for it’s own sake. It maintains a tight focus on the next layer of the story, while the flashback elements are perfectly integrated, making it perfectly clear that our rag-tag band of survivors (get it!?) are nowhere near out of the woods yet.
This show gets better and better.
8.2/10. This is the first time that TOS has really felt like Star Trek to me. There are no love interests for Kirk, no mysterious new arrivals who quickly start acting strangely, no dramatic hand-to-hand combat in the third act. Instead, there's a just a big problem, one that threatens the whole ship and which has no obvious solution available, forcing the Captain to think on his feet and show the best of humanity in the process.
To put the horse before the cart, it was almost a Picard-esque performance from Kirk, and I mean that as a complement. The introduction of Crewman Bailey, juxtaposed with Spock, created an interesting set of extremes for Kirk to set the midpoint of Bailey was impulsive, wanting to blast the alien ship with phasers almost immediately, and cracking under the pressure. Spock, meanwhile, remains stoic as ever, but also has no suggestions when they're backed into a corner with destruction on the horizon.
Kirk, meanwhile, finds a middle ground. He does everything in his power to avoid violence or the use of force until absolutely necessary. He finds an unorthodox solution (using the poker metaphor to explain his "bluffing" in a nice fashion) that manages to save the crew's skins and comes up with a clever way to escape the smaller ship's clutches. And he even shows the sort of mercy and kindness that characterizes the best of what humanity can be, attempting to aid the being that was threatening to destroy them moments before.
More than that, the "Corbomite Maneuver" reaffirms the animating spirit of Star Trek, both as a series and as a franchise -- the spirit of exploration. The goal of this crew, and to some extent, every Star Trek crew is to "seek out new life and new civilzations." Just like the cross-pollenation of peoples on Earth in real life, that is going to be a bumpy process sometimes, one that puts good people on both sides at risk, but by showing the sincerity, altruism, and trust that Kirk embodies here, amazing discoveries can be made and connections can be forged.
I've also talked a lot about this series's propensity to use ticking clocks as a crutch, some manufactured problem meant to create a sense of urgency about whatever the crisis of the week is. "The Corbomite Maneuver" makes that ticking clock literal, with the opposing alien giving The Enterprise a literal ten minute countdown. But while in other episodes, that sort of time pressure seems contrived, here it creates a sense of foreboding as the bridge crew is forced to just sit there, try to keep their cool, and find away out of this situation. It's too much for Bailey, and it leads to some brave "it's been a pleasure serving with you" moments (especially between Kirk and Bones), but for once it really adds something to the atmosphere of the episode, rather than feeling like a throw-in for T.V. drama.
And to the same end, I like the "solve the puzzle" aspect of this one. So much of Star Trek thus far has been sussing out a mystery -- there are some unknown facts or something weird, and the crew tries to get to the bottom of it. Despite the unknown nature of their attacker (and his giant rubiks cube), that's less the tack of "The Corbomite Maneuver" than that there is a known problem with no clear solution, forcing the crew and Kirk especially to think outside the box to get them out of such a tight spot. It's a formula I prefer and one that this episode executes well, even if it still drags a bit after the initial countdown is over.
Moreover, I love the sort of weirdness of the ending. I thought the alien on the viewscreen looked like a character from a Rankin Bass Christmas special, so the reveal that it's a puppet for a diminutive (overdubbed) alien was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. The idea of humanity being tested by superior, or at least more powerful beings is a recurring one in the Star Trek franchise, and the notion that Kirk & Co. passed the test, demonstrating their ability for unique thought and caring, with an "exchange program" being initiated to boot, is a nice illustration of those ideas of cultural exchange and humanistic principles brought to bear.
Overall, this was the kind of Star Trek I know and love, the one that shows good men and women in difficult situations finding creative solutions and proving their mettle and humanity in the process. The reveal of the strange and unexpected in that effort is a bonus, and a testament to the wealth of imagination Roddenberry and his lieutenants were ready to offer at the time. Let's hope the show keeps boldly going in this direction.
[7.5/10] This felt like a straight up The Clone Wars episode. You’ve got Anakin teaching Ahsoka a lesson, with some encouragement from Obi-Wan and help from the likes of Rex, Jesse, and other familiar clone troopers. The other episodes of Tales of the Jedi so far have felt like glimpses of corners of the Star Wars saga we’ve never gotten to see before. But this one feels a little more like gap-filling a nostalgia bait for TCW fans.
But you know what? I am a TCW fan, so it worked on me! While there’s a certain sports movie story shape to this one, I like the central concept of Anakin thinking that traditional Jedi tests are too staid and predictable, and so wanting to shape something more realistic and challenging for his pupil. It’s true to form for Anakin, and his color-outside-the-lines mentality.
Forcing Ahsoka to square off against Clone Troopers with their blasters set on stun serves both purposes. To Anakin’s point, troopers are less predictable than droids. And it also speaks to a certain resilience necessary in battle. Ahsoka is out for long periods of time when stunned, but has to keep getting up and keep fighting, another skill that’s important for actual battles.
What I like most about this one is that it puts the audience in the same position as Ahsoka emotionally. We feel her frustration at this seemingly impossible exercise with the endless rhythm of Anakin’s repeated “Again”s. We feel her pain when she’s stunned and passes out again and again, tumbling like a wounded gazelle each time she gets back to us. This is a deliberately frustrating task, one that requires determination and balance the whole way through.
And yet, there’s a strong emotional turning point. When Ashoka questions the utility of the test, Anakin explains that he wants it to be challenging, because it will make her better, prepare her for what’s really out there, and that he knows she can do it. It’s tough love, the kind that’s hard to watch in places, but one that evinces a sense of faith for Anakin in his padawan. So when we see it work, when we see Ahsoka succeeding now and in the future, while an older Anakin looks on in approval, it’s an affirmation of both student and teacher, and a heartening one at that.
Then comes the gut punch. In hindsight, I should have seen it coming that this training would be important when, as in the end of The Clone Wars seventh season, Ahsoka has to fight off the clones who’s chips have been activated. It’s a dark note to end on. There’s grim poetry to the fact that the friends helping her become better would turn on her, and force her to use those skills she learned in that training session for real. But like so much, it adds to the tragedy and irony of the Prequel Era story, where it’s the very skills Ahsoka’s master taught her that allow her to survive the hell his master hath wrought.
Visually, there’s some neat elements here too. However much Anakin may turn his nose up at the official training session, the balletic grace and impact with which Ashoka moves versus the ball droids is impressive and visually arresting. Watching her slice through big laser light donuts makes for some damn cool visuals too. The repetitious nature of the stuns and blackouts sells the tough consequences of this intense training session. And not for nothing, this could just be the power of suggestion, but I feel like they tweaked Ahsoka’s design slightly to make her look more like Rosario Dawson.
Overall, more so than any of the other shorts, this one seems tailor-made for anyone who misses The Clone Wars. (Hell, we even have a cameo from Caleb Dume for Rebels fans.) That makes it arguably the least adventurous of these outings, but also one that will resonate with anyone who’s been watching the story of Anakin and Ahsoka’s mentorship for years.
[8.6/10] It's amazing how an episode about a hot-button issue like homosexuality from ~25 years ago can still feel so well-done and relevant today, without ever seeming overly preachy. The gist of how "Homer's Phobia" accomplishes this is simple -- it delves into Homer's fears about gay people but (a.) always depicts John as a decent, charming, and endlessly patient guy, and (b.) depicts Homer's anxieties as ridiculous and harsh but also realistic for someone of his age and upbringing. It makes Homer seem believably boorish and overblown about the whole thing, while John is consistently delightful, making Homer's rudeness toward him and homophobia seem all the more misguided.
Beyond that, it's a really funny episode. John Waters is a natural as a voice actor, and he brings John to life while giving him a rhythm of speech that makes him engaging and immediately sets him apart from the rest of Spingfield. The steel mill is an all-time great sequence. And the show pokes such fun at the idiocy of Moe, Barney, and Homer trying to "stop" Bart from turning gay that it manages to make their concerns seem hopelessly backward but also wrings comedy from it.
Again, it's so impressive that an episode that tackled an issue that's changed a lot in the public consciousness over the past couple of decades still manages to thread the needle to where it seems sensitive and still funny.
I feel the need to contrast the existing reviews, in particular Carlos' 3/10 rating. I've wrapped the rest of this in spoiler tags for anyone who wants to go in completely blind, but I don't think anything written in my comment should ruin the film.
This film isn't meant to be a documentary, nor is it a faithful adaptation of The Wind Has Risen. Instead, it draws narrative elements from several places, and I think the end result is an excellent story. It's misguided, in my opinion, to critize the film for a lack of "accuracy" when this was never the film's intention.
I can understand that one would have misgivings about a piece of Japanese media portraying WWII or related topics, but in no way does this film endorse Japan's actions. Having watched The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, Miyazaki's views on this topic are (to the extent that I'm familiar with them) entirely respectable. He appears to me to be a pacifist, and isn't himself entirely comfortable with his own admiration of the Zero planes' design due to their usage in the war.
The "controversy" section of the movie's wikipedia article does a good job summing up why I find it hard to consider this movie "nationalist" or anything like that. Quoted as of 2019-01-13:
"In Japan, The Wind Rises received criticism from both the political right[27] and from the Japan Society for Tobacco Control.[48] Miyazaki added to the controversy by publishing an article in which he criticized the proposal by Japan's centre-right Liberal Democratic Party to change the Constitution of Japan, which irritated nationalists.[27][48] Some commentators were unhappy that a warplane engineer was the film's protagonist.[48]
In an interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Miyazaki said he had "very complex feelings" about World War II since, as a pacifist, he felt militarist Japan had acted out of "foolish arrogance". However, Miyazaki also said that the Zero plane "represented one of the few things we Japanese could be proud of – [Zeros] were a truly formidable presence, and so were the pilots who flew them".[48]"
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Rises#Controversy)
[7.7/10] A lovely little short. I appreciate how rather than plotty and full of dialogue, this one is more moody, lyrical, even spiritual. The story of how Ashoka was first identified as force-sensitive should be something more slow-spun and meaningful, rather than just a rote recognition of her abilities. “Life and Death” fits that bill.
It gives us not only baby Ahsoka (who’s pretty darn cute), but also a glimpse of her family pre-Jedi. Her father is over the moon at the birth of his daughter, more technologically minded and skeptical of ancient beliefs. Her mother is a loving caretaker, more connected to the old ways and a badass who can hold off a saber toothed tiger. She’s raised in a loving, communal village excited for her arrival and ready to muster when she’s in danger. And there is a wizened spiritual leader, Gantika, who looks after their community, connects with the deeper spirits of it, and is the first to recognize Ahsoka’s unique potential.
The upshot of all this is warm and beautiful, but also an important reminder and heretofore unknown element of the character -- something was lost when she had to leave this beautiful family and community behind. When we hear tell of Ahsoka’s past, it’s small bits. But even if she was young, we the viewer understand that had she never been discovered as force-sensitive, she could still have lived a wonderful life with the support of a caring family and wholesome townspeople to look after her.
Or maybe she would have been eaten by a big cat. At ifst, I took “Life and Death” to be mainly a mood piece -- Star Wars by way of Terrence Mallick with its bucolic, peaceful setting and laconic exploration of childhood. But there’s a story here, of a hunting ritual to teach the one-year old Togruta the meaning of life and death early, that goes awry when a predator tries to teach a lesson of its own.
Despite the fact that we know Ahsoka survivesthe encounter, there's real tension when the tiger strikes and Pav-ti has to hold it off. The same goes when the tiger absconds with the child, and the locals have to assemble to seek her out as night falls, in the hopes that they’re not already too late. The fact that it’s not a show of force which retrieves the tyke, but rather Ahsoka herself instinctively using her Jedi mind powers, is in keeping with the spirit of the franchise. What’s more, it’s in keeping with the tone of the short: a whiff of danger matched by something spiritual and a little transcendent from a child who intuitively understands the force that connects all living things in this galaxy.
It’s a lesson she internalizes from her mother, whether she knows it or not. Ahsoka is born. She is told and shown by her mother the importance of understanding the value of and respect for life, while also facing death.. She lives that lesson more closely than any parent might like. And in the end, her life is fated to dramatically change.
I appreciate the approach from Dave Fiolini and company in filling in this piece of the character’s story. There’s little that’s flashy here. (If anything, the tiger looks a little off, designer wise. But what it lacks in spectacle, it makes up for in a reverent, wholesome vibe that moves the soul as much as it moves the plot.
For the most part, I liked Ready Player One. The film is entertaining and imaginative, but it never seems to reach the potential that it has. It feels like it squanders some good material in a quest to be a parable about the dangers of virtual reality.
I finished reading the book a few days before the film's release (today) and I have the book's story fresh in my mind to compare with the film.
The film, co-written by the book's author Ernest Cline only has the very basics from the book. There were some deep structural changes made the the film's story and characters some for the better and some for the worse.
The changes to the way the keys were found and used, that was a good change. The book's version was dull and drawn out, the film's version is more dynamic, quicker to the point and in general more exciting -- a good example is the first key, in the book it was a dungeon quest that ends with Parzival playing an arcade game. In the movie, it is a race that is visually stunning. The research and Halliday journal are compressed into a museum of sorts and that helps a lot.
One of the changes that was for the worse was the way the characters met. Having Parzival meet Art3mis so early and having Art3mis be the one that initiates the meeting was a bad choice. The chemistry between the two never really works onscreen and the "love" that they feel for each other feels forced and too quick. Aech, who has a larger part and backstory in the book, is reduced to basically a driver. The Japanese kid who dies in the book lives in the movie, which takes away from the evilness of Sorento. Also, having the kids be together in the real world and working together is a bad change as it takes away from the competition. I can see why Spielberg would want this change to happen -- it follows in the same footsteps as his other films that feature kids as the protagonists.
Speaking of Spielberg, the man has two sides. There is Serious Spielberg (The Post) and there is Fun Spielberg (Ready Player One). Lately, Fun Spielberg hasn't had much fun -- his last few "fun" films being The BFG, The Adventures of Tintin and that Indiana Jones film everyone chooses not to remember. Gone are the days of Jurassic Park or Raiders of the Lost Ark "Fun" Spielberg. It almost seems like Spielberg is trying too hard with Ready Player One to try to recapture the magic of "Fun" Spielberg. For the most part, he does.
The score by Alan Silvestri is perfect for the film as he remixes some of his best themes into the film that has... well, some of the movies that he scored for.
The leads were decent. Olivia Cooke stands out in the film and is most memorable. Ben Mendelson is also memorable with his mix of the sneering Krennic with a little bit of cowardly goofball -- it sounds weird, but it works. T.J. Miller's I-R0k is a character that was not in the book, but added to the movie -- and I really liked this addition. I-R0k was very memorable and hilarious.
The movie banks on nostalgia and shoves quite a bit of it visually in every frame. It will take multiple viewings to catch everything that Spielberg and team put into the film.
[9.1/10] Such a great episode. I’ll admit, at first I bristled a bit at Leslie’s behavior here. At times (like in the prior Model U.N. episode) Leslie hews too closely to her Michael Scott-esque origins. Don’t get me wrong, I love Michael Scott as a character, but since Leslie is a capable if occasionally overcommitted civil servant and Michael is a well-meaning but generally incompetent if lovable dope, his style of social ineptitude and selfishness isn’t always a good fit for her character.
But what I like is that rather than just completely going with Leslie taking Ben’s admonition that they shouldn’t work together after the “Littlest Park” project is done as an invitation to draw out the project as long as possible for wacky sitcom hijinks, P&R uses it as an opportunity to have people call Leslie out for this behavior.
It’s great that it comes from Ann, who is a confidant and someone who loves Leslie wholeheartedly despite her occasional steamrolling nature. (Their exchange about the Harry Potter movies is great.) And it sells a genuine frustration for Ben that isn’t some made up conflict but which speaks to Leslie’s good intentioned and understandable, but occasionally overzealous ways. It’s hard to shine a spotlight on the way your main character can be inconsiderate or even dismissive of other people’s feelings, but using it as a learning moment and a chance for growth is what elevate Parks and Rec over similar shows.
It leads to such a great, all-timer of a moment with Ben and Leslie in that little park. It’s moment like these that show what a strong performer Amy Poehler is. She is such a flawless comedian, with crackerjack timing and the ability to pull off any number of gags. But she is also 100% up to these big emotional moments, selling Leslie’s earnestness and hurt at the thought of not getting to see Ben anymore, at her contrition for not taking his wishes into account, and the magnitude of her being willing to risk the fallout in both her job and her dream of public office it means getting to be together. Their kiss is one of those great, heartwarming, fist-pump moments on Parks and Rec, and the episode earns every minute of it.
And I haven’t even mentioned the B-story! Andy trying to figure out which class to take at community college is just and endless font of comedy. April and Ron pushing and pulling him as to what to take creates all sorts of great moments, and so many situations for Chris Pratt to react to in character. (His lines about “women’s lasers” and “one ticket to women” are especially funny idiot-isms.) There’s something heartening about him ending up in a women’s studies course, and especially heartening about Ron paying for it. Ron is the ultimate father figure to a lot of these characters, and seeing him open his heart and his wallet shows one of those parental, sweet dimensions beneath his grump and facial hair.
The least of them is probably Tom’s story about picking a new font for the Parks Dept. logo. That said, I like the bit about him using Jerry’s 70s ID as inspiration, and the subtext that even if he stays a longtime government employee, he’ll always find ways to inject his own individual flair into his work
Overall, it’s a stellar episode that hits on all three stories, and finds interesting depths and challenges for its characters along the way.
[8.0/10] One becomes two, two becomes four, four get into an epic hallway battle. So goes The Defenders, as we reach our big team up beat-em-up moment. I have to once again compliment the season-long pacing, as the show reestablishes the characters independently, establishes them as duos, and only then brings them together as one big, happy, bad guy punching family.
But before it gets there (or to the opening credits) it gives a little series of vignettes on how Elektra became The Black Sky. It’s a pretty standard slow burn training montage kind of thing, but it has a lot of evocative imagery that makes it work. The image of Elektra’s bloody hand emerging from the sarcophagus, her baffled feral person slipping in a puddle of blood on the ground, the soothing but forceful struggles with Alexandra who goes from pugilistic to calming nicely.
This is where I’ll admit that I’m a fan of Sigourney Weavers, but I’m not loving her in this. There’s something kind of stilted and unnatural about a lot of her delivery, and while I suspect she’s going for a certain superior aloofness, and the writing for her character isn’t great (ugh that Constantinople line) it only really works when she’s calling Danny Rand on his bullshit, which everyone looks great doing. Still, Elektra had the same problem and The Defenders has the good sense to mostly keep her quiet, expressing her character’s journey through candle-ringed ninja fights and well framed action. It’s a nice choice that give us some backstory and makes her The Hand’s yin to The Iron Fist’s yang.
But Danny gets another foil here, this one more directed at his personality and position, in the form of Luke Cage. Again, the plotting so far has been solid, as the episode doesn’t beat around the bush but instead has Claire organically figure out the connection between Luke and the guy who punched him and bring them together. There’s a certain retrograde “oh you boys” quality to Claire and Colleen leaving the two guys to hash things out, but it provides one of the most interesting scenes in the episode, to I’m willing to excuse it a bit.
That scene comes when Luke and Danny disagree with one another’s perspective with regard to Cole, the young man who Luke was trying to protect and Danny was trying to strongarm for information. What I like about the scene is that while I tend to side with Luke (and lord knows Danny is just the worst), the show gives both characters good reasons to feel the way they do about this. Danny knows that The Hand can’t just be bought off; he has resentments for these people since they killed his parents, and that taints anyone who would associate with them in his eyes, or at least makes them a means to an end to cut out the cancer that’s plaguing New York City.
Luke, just as understandably, doesn’t see it as a mystical warrior (and Luke’s chagrin at hearing about dragons and chi is well-played by Mike Colter) out for justice. He sees it as a privileged white boy beating up a good kid wrapped up in something bad who ends up in jail while Danny gets to continue on his one-man crusade (give or take Colleen). Look, I’ve thought Danny is kind of a dweeb, to say the least, for a long time for it’s easy for me to side with Luke here, but I appreciate the way the show dramatizes his feelings about what Danny’s doing, and gives Danny good reason to approach this the way he does. It’s a good outing for the fated series of personality clashes.
It works with the other half of The Defenders equation as well. I get a big kick out of Daredevil and Jessica Jones playing cat and mouse with one another. As Mrs. Bloom observed, Matt and Jessica make pretty great foils for one another too, with the caustic sarcasm of Jessica blending nicely with the martyr-y do-gooderness of Matt to create some real sparks. We don’t get that much of the two of them here, but Matt being able to track Jess to the bad guy hideout, Jessica being able to figure out that Matt isn’t what he seems, and the contrast between Matt borrowing Jessica’s scarf (with amusing repartee about it) and parkouring his way to the top of the building while Jessica just takes the elevator is brilliant.
Again, in terms of plotting, the episode parcels out good reasons for all our heroes to make to the Midland Circle building. Luke finds Cole’s money box with the name on it. Jessica uses her P.I. skills to ferret it out from an architect. Matt follows J-Jo with his super-hearing. And Danny uses his corporate connections to figure out who they are and, idiot that he is, just walks in and declares that the jig is up, much to Alexandra’s amusement. (Again, he really is an idiot, though I like the idea that Alexandra wants him alive since he’s the key to the mystic wall thing.)
So we get our big fight, and while it doesn’t match the best hallway fight of the Defender-verse we’ve already seen, it’s still cool to see our heroes actually teaming up to take on the bad guys. Iron Fist hiding behind Luke to stay safe from bullets, Jessica and Matt walking down the hall when Luke just bursts through a wall, Matt going toe-to-toe with Evilektra -- it’s all well-done with the right “the gang’s all here” note to go out on.
The Defenders has pretty well mastered the escalation game over it’s first three episodes. It’s planted seeds for the conflicts, provided convincing reasons for our heroes to coalesce, and hinted at the bigger badder stuff that is progressing on the periphery (I forgot to mention Stick’s badass, handchopping escape!). It’s been a stellar build so far. Let’s see if The Defenders can pay it off now that all the pieces are where they need to be on the board.
[7.5/10] I think we all went into this expecting a medieval fantasy version of Futurama, but this show is something quite different (and a million miles away from The Simpsons). It's attempting to tell a big story and it seems that it's decided to do some world building before getting into things.
It's fair to say that things start out a little uneven, maybe even rough. It feels directionless and we're thrown introductions to these characters that feel a bit forced. It's hard to know what to make of Bean, Elfo and Luci to begin with. Bean is the most interesting and feels like the most fully developed: a drunken princess dissatisfied with her place in the world and feeling a lack of respect from her father. She's also determined and brave through her bad attitude, and I found it easy to like her. Elfo and Luci are more difficult, partly because their voices don't quite fit with the character designs. Luci in particular seems to feel like forced comedy most of the time, with his comments rarely raising a chuckle. Elfo does better in this respect, and as the series went on I began to warm to him a lot more (and season end spoiler: I actually really missed him later when he wasn't around.)
Background characters like King Zog, Sorcerio and Pendergast also become much more fun to watch as episodes go by.
It's only the second half of this opening season that things really begin to come together. Stronger storytelling, better jokes and much more emotional moments. It starts to almost feel like this series is leaning towards being a drama with comedic elements rather than the other way round. There are a lot of moving parts here and I get the feeling that Matt Groening and his team are attempting something pretty epic; the show may indeed be a different experience when you go back and watch it a second time and understand everything that's going on.
I love the look of the show. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and while the characters lack detail in comparison they do mesh together pretty well. The animation is of a similar style to Futurama and modern Simpsons, with a lovely mix of 2D and 3D models and what has now become the trademark Groening look.
It's not quite great yet and sometimes it's not even good, but there's enough here to keep me coming back and have me very interested in where things are going. The writing is good but the jokes need to have a bit more quality over quantity. If you gave up after only a few episodes I'd encourage you to keep watching if you have the time (episodes 8 and 9 really cemented the season for me). The show is attempting to create a fascinating world, but is just struggling to give us the best introduction to it.
8.1/10. It’s hard for me to evaluate this one independently of my knowledge of this production history. While I don’t know much about the behind the scenes goings-on of TOS, I did learn that “The Cage” the original pilot for Star Trek, was repurposed for use in “The Menagerie,” even after the show was retooled. That means that this bit of corporate expediency (“we filmed all that stuff, may as well use it somehow”) allows some of the seams to show – particularly the fact that everything amounts to a frame story where we watch the main characters sit around and watch the original pilot.
And yet, that frame story offers one of the most compelling plots the show’s presented thus far. It’s encouraging that this one was written by Gene Roddenberry himself, as it has pacing, intrigue, and even improved dialogue that are spotty at best in other episodes.
For instance, so many Star Trek episodes (at least through the show’s first ten) have been about mysteries of some kind. It’s an easy way to try to hook viewers to stay through the end of the hour, to try to find out what the answer to the riddle is. But the problem is that many of those answers have been pretty obvious, many of the journeys to get there dull, and many of the answers themselves not particular inspiring.
Here, however, Roddenberry does a stellar job (no pun intended) at making not only the “what” but the “why” of the mystery in “The Menagerie” interesting. Much of that comes from the fact that focal point of that mystery is Spock himself. As usual, the show somewhat holds the audience’s hand by emphasizing that Spock is incapable of lying and is fiercely loyal, but even so, from prior episodes we know Spock’s character, we know his decency and devotion, and so it immediately grabs your attention when he’s the one hiding things from the Captain and basically commandeering the crew and the ship for a secret mission.
Frankly, it reminded me of an episode of The Next Generation, where the typically anodyne and guileless Data suddenly takes over the ship and sends it to a different land. These kinds of moments are exciting, not only because they show somebody on the crew as the antagonist (or at least the cause of the crisis of the week), but because the person causing those problem is otherwise so without malice or treachery that the audience instantly wonders what could make them act in this manner.
It’s also a little scary (and a little exciting) just how effective Spock and Data are in their quests. The way Spock is able to deceive the crew, maroon Kirk, and execute his mission is startling in how dangerous Spock could be if he genuinely wanted to cause trouble, and as with Data, it serves as a nice reminder to be glad he’s on our side.
But the episode also does a good job at building up to the “what” of the mystery, not just the intrigue of what would possess Spock to act like this. The fact that Kirk reads a top secret file about Talos IV and that visiting the planet is the last crime in the Starfleet rulebook (is Starfleet a thing yet? Everyone says “Earth Ship”) is punishable by death immediately heightens the stakes for what Spock is up to. In the same way, the fact that Spock has a history with Captain Pike, some past shared experience that not only motivates Spock to initiate this whole business, but to seek Pike’s blessing in the process adds to the mystery of what exactly happened on that planet and why it was enough for Starfleet to ban visiting, Pike to act as frantic in his warning as possible given the circumstances, and for Spock to risk court-martial and even death to get back.
Pike himself is one of the most iconic characters in Star Trek, with parodies in South Park and Futurama, and an important role in the 2009 reboot. That gives him some instant credibility for a viewer coming this late to the game, but beyond the reputation that proceeds him, there’s something weird and tragic about this maimed soldier, a man whose brain is reportedly fine but whose trapped in a useless body, that makes his story and his warnings quickly compelling. (And, as a bonus, there’s also a certain Hector Salamanca from Breaking Bad vibe that only heightens his presence to a modern viewer.
Oddly enough, the thrill of Spock’s deception and the ensuing chase culminates in a military tribunal. Courtroom drama is a somewhat odd place to take the story (albeit one that nicely allows for everyone to hang out and watch “The Cage”), but it works. Spock’s instant surrender and attempt to plead guilty, and the back and forth between Kirk, Mendez, and occasionally Pike is well-written. Given what’s at stake, turning the whole escapade into a hearing works surprisingly well as another part of the frame story.
Once we actually get into “The Cage,” though, things start to sag a bit. There are, understandably, going to be pacing issues when you spend 3/4 of an episode telling one story, and then abruptly shift toward telling another. But it is interesting to see a different version of the enterprise, both in-universe as a mini-prequel to the current season, and out-of-universe as a glimpse of an early conception of what the show might have been. (A female first officer, and Majel Barrett no less!)
Captain Pike’s laments in the vein of “heavy is the head that wears the crown” offers a unique contrast to Kirk, at least the Kirk we know. While the small part of the past adventures we see here amount to a pretty typical Star Trek story (something mysterious happens on an unknown planet, “let’s go investigate,” trouble ensues), Pike’s declarations that there’s other way he could live, that he might be ready to give up the chair, add dimension to the character in short order.
Of course we get a cliffhanger and hint toward part 2, with everything up in the air and much at stake. But it’s an encouraging first half of this story, one that admittedly slows down a bit once the show starts recycling its old footage, but one with a number of impressive elements that mark this as a notable episode out of the gate.
9.7/10. I wonder if Gene Roddenberry knew in 1966 how prescient and relevant something like “The Menagerie” would feel more than fifty years later. There’s an irony to the episode, which offers an implicit critique of Talosians, who have become so consumed in their fantasies, in exploring simulated lives, that they have become weak and unable to sustain themselves. There is the ouroboros quality of viewers watching an episode of television about characters in the show watching what amounts to an episode of television that is, in subtext, about the dangers and delights of losing yourself in the sort of glimpses of other worlds and other lives that television, and Star Trek in particular, provide.
That’s what’s so striking about “The Menagerie.” In some ways it feels like Roddenberry is warning about not only his own medium, but his own product. Make no mistake, the Talosians are us, or at least, a cautionary tale about what we might be if we let our stories overtake the rest of our lives. It’s a warning that feels especially prescient in the context of Star Trek, a program that cultivated a fanatical, at times extreme devotion, documented in films like Trekkies and parodied in Futurama. Arguably moreso than any other franchise, Star Trek is associated with the type of “nerd in his parents’ basement” stereotype, the kind of person who as Roddenberry himself seems to caution against, let’s these flights of fancy become substitutes for social interaction and even living one’s own life independent of these artificial reflections of it.
In age where we’ve moved beyond television – to video games, virtual reality, social media bubbles, and more and more tools that can either be means to connect us to the wider world, or to seal us off into our own little spaces, the ideas “The Menagerie” plays with are, if anything, more relevant now than they were in 1966.
But rather than confining that idea to pie-in-the-sky hypotheticals, Star Trek grounds it in character. When we met Captain Pike in part one, he was contemplating hanging up his spurs, wondering what kind of lives there might be other than being a Starfleet captain. That detail adds weight to his temptation, resilience, and resistance when captured on Talos IV. The Talosians offer him visions of other lives, ones where he can be a brave knight, where he can return to his home, where he can have anything he wishes or can imagine, far from the life-and-death decisions and day-to-day struggles of being an explorer and military commander.
Pike, however, rejects these tempting illusions, this gilded cage, even when threatened with flashes of hellfire meant to offer a stick on the other side of that carrot. There are real philosophical questions raised by poor Vina, arguing that things he can hear and see and feel are as real as anything even if they’re constructed. Still, Pike cannot abide this resignation. The images he sees are false, the pleasures they offer are transient and ephemeral, and the price for enjoying them is to be a prisoner, if not a slave. More than Kirk, he feels like a precursor to Captain Picard in those moments, remaining steadfast, sharp, and resourceful even in the face of allure and torture.
To the same end, it’s hard not to watch “The Menagerie” and think of the other works that seem to have influenced it or been influenced by it. It addresses the same notion of the isolating numbness of escape tackled early in Fahrenheit 451 and comically in Wall-E. The scenes of Pike and Vina enjoying a bucolic paradise plucked from Pike’s memories feels of a piece with Pike’s successor’s experience in Star Trek: Generations. And the humans in a sort of intergalactic zoo, prompted to mate by their captors, calls to mind Kurt Vonnegut’s superlative novel Slaughterhouse Five.
What’s just as notable (and what shows the franchise’s heart as well is it’s imagination) is that the Talosians, like Vonnegut’s Tralfamadorians are not evil so much as they are simply other. The don’t mean Pike or Vina any harm exactly, they are simply so advanced, so removed from the human experience that these people embody, that their morality doesn’t even exist on the same axis. For them, humans are primitive (a blind spot that turns out to be their undoing), to where they respond to emotional responses and pleas for this or that with clinical curiosity, the way a scientist might study the behaviors of a lab rat.
And yet they’re also tragic figures. Despite their incredible powers, the Talosians are doomed, so divorced from their more rough-hewn past that they cannot sustain their planet, nor repair the technology that makes their lives possible. It’s one of Star Trek’s trademarks, one seen as recently as in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” where the antagonists are not merely mustache-twirling baddies, but rather fantastical, otherworldly beings with their own goals and understanding of the universe that leads them to clash with our heroes.
We also gain a greater understanding of Spock’s motivations of bringing the Enterprise back to Talos IV in the present day, in a way that both accounts for his actions in the prior episode that's in accord with what we already know about the character, but which also deepens him. There is an unshowy nobility to Spock. His secrecy and deception in shanghaiing the ship and its crew were not acts of malice or selfishness, but rather, meant to place the burden and the responsibility of breaking the rules on his shoulders and his shoulders alone, thereby sparing Kirk and the rest of the crew from having to face the mortal consequences of the specified punishment.
But beyond that bit of gallant cleverness, we also see the fierce loyalty Kirk mentioned early, and most strikingly, a streak of compassion in the otherwise detached Vulcan. Spock, however, reserved he may seem on the outside, is willing to go to such lengths, take such risks, in order to give his former Captain another chance at life, to free him from his afflictions and allow Pike to live out the rest of his days in bliss rather than, true to the theme of the episode, a prisoner in his own body.
That is the other irony, and the flipside of Roddenberry’s warning, in returning Pike to Talos IV to allow him to embrace those illusions he once rejected. The planet that once represented imprisonment for Pike (the episode was originally entitled “The Cage”) now represents freedom. There is such beauty, such joy, such catharsis, in seeing the images of Pike, no longer confined to his apparatus, reunited with Vina, permitted to be himself again.
Star Trek, after all, would not really function as a luddite tract. Roddenberry show us the dangers of technology, of the immersive forms of storytelling he himself is offering, but he also gives us the brighter side of them, the ways in which for those who can no longer see the world, experience life as we do, such escapes can be freeing, vital, and heartening all at once. The Talosians encourage Kirk to continue on with his journey, to see the galaxy and to stay in the saddle as Pike resolved to after his experiences on Talos IV, but they also welcome Pike back with open arms, and deliver him to a paradise that is otherwise outside his grasp.
Had Star Trek met the same fate as the plucky show that emerged out of its shadow, Firefly, and been cut down half a season into its run, closing with this episode, the series would still be justified and worthy of adulation from this episode alone. It blows everything that came before out of the water, and considering it was written by the father of Star Trek himself, that’s an encouraging sign for the rest of the show’s run. “The Menagerie” is a high water mark, if not the high water mark, for a show embracing the philosophical, the technological, but above all else the hopeful – that there’s more worlds to explore, that the stoic possess hearts of gold, and that the lame shall walk.
[7.2/10] I didn’t really like Danny Rand in Iron Fist. I didn’t really like Luke Cage in Luke Cage (or Jessica Jones) for that matter. But damn if I don’t like them together. Danny spouting all that mystical mumbo jumbo brings out an eye-rolling, “come on man” quality in Luke that gives some flavor to Mike Colter’s performance. And Luke also acts as a foil to Iron First, something sorely missing in his own show, who can listen to Iron Danny’s grand proclamation about what he’s done and wants to do and call bullshit. Despite that semi-testy relationship, there’s also a sense of respect, of easy camaraderie between the two of them. Luke whacking Danny with the newspaper is a simple gesture, but one that makes you go “aww” and also makes you wish Netflix would cancel Iron Fist and Luke Cage and greenlight a Heroes For Hire series in its place.
On the other side of The Defenders ledger, you have Daredevil and Jessica Jones, gone to try to solve the mystery of what’s being hidden at Midland Circle together. They too, make for great foils for one another. Matt is half “we have to help the helpless” and half Catholic guilt, and Jessica Jones is all surliness and directness, and the contrast really works for them as a pairing. Jessica not only figuring out and sharing Matt’s story with the daughter of the Midland Odessa architect, but offering Matt a certain kind of absolution, really works. Jessica is not the kind to be effusive with praise or sympathy, so it means more coming from her.
Last, and also probably least, the episode spends a decent amount of time pairing up Alexandra and Elektra. Their scene in the graveyard is mostly for the fake out element of it all, there to make you think that despite Elektra’s mission drift, learning that Alexandra is dying pulls her back into the fold. There’s something to that, with Alexandra clearly viewing Elektra as a surrogate daughter which adds another layer to the proceedings. But it mostly serves to set up the “shocking” twist that Elektra is going to turn on Alexandra and try to become the new leader of the hand.
That choice stinks for several reasons. The first and easiest is that while I haven’t loved Sigourney Weaver’s performance here (she’s a little too unnatural in her delivery of the usual villainspeak for my tastes), she’s still a vast improvement on Elodie Yung. Black Sky Elektra hasn’t been my favorite part of The Defenders, but as an “actions speak louder than words” type character, she’s tolerable at worst. But now, she’s going to be the one delivering the villain monologues and having to carry the dramatic waste, and that’s a major downgrade.
Plus, it leans into more tortured romance territory between her and Matt, leading to some inevitable moral conflict of whether Matt can kill the woman he loves for the greater good. In other hands, that could be a compelling storyline, but as someone who’s never bought into the romance between the two, and thinks that the acting and chemistry between the two is lacking, it’s not an appealing proposition.
That said, we at least get a pretty badass hero-on-hero (on hero and on hero) fight to keep things lively. I believe it was Kevin Smith who pointed out how cliché it is to have your heroes fight each other in these team up things, but it’s still a thrill to see Daredevil fighting Iron Fist. The two martial arts-knowing characters going to toe-to-toe is interesting, and the way their sequence is shot -- with the two framed at a distance like something out of Mortal Kombat -- adds a certain fluidity and continuity to the skirmish. In addition, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage getting involved in blunter ways is a nice touch, and I particularly like the conclusion where Danny’s chi-fist meeting Luke’s impenetrable chest creates a reaction that stuns them all.
We also get some interesting business with Stick. He’s always been more of a pragmatist than Matt Murdock or really anyone else in the Defenders subuniverse, and it’s nice to see that continued here. It makes sense then, that he’d think to kill Danny to keep The Hand from getting him rather than just hiding him. The knockout incense routine is actually pretty clever in that regard, and while deus ex elektra doesn’t do much for me, the ensuing fight where she knocks everyone out (albeit a bit conveniently) sells her as a physical threat. I wish I could say that I really mourned Stick’s death, but I mostly was just sad that Scott Glenn won’t be around to deliver his well-worn grumpiness and wit anymore.
On the whole, it’s not the greatest episode of The Defenders, but it leans into the pairings of its main four characters that really work, and moves the ball forward in a novel way, even if I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to see where the change in the form of antagonism takes us from here.
[8.2/10] I love the way that this one captures that nervous, excited energy of the first day of college for both mother and daughter. Considering how shaggy Gilmore Girls’s episodes have been lately, it’s nice to see the show basically turn over the hour to one continuous story about Lorelai, Rory, and Luke, one of those makeshift families that so often emerges on television, and the act of each of them turning over a new leaf.
That’s not to say it’s a focused hour. We have Luke’s escapades with an escalating number of lawyers who each disbelieves that he doesn’t want anything from Nicole in their divorce. We have Tahna, Rory’s new roommate who is sixteen, an orphan, and so socially awkward that she just blurts out random, semi-macabre facts when trying to make small talk.
Then, of course, there’s Paris. I wish I could say I was surprised at her sudden appearance here, but at least the show handwaves her turning up as Rory’s roommate with her dad having “made a phonecall.” The schtick with her life coach is pretty broad, but Liza Weil’s performance saves it.
Otherwise, the episode is a great series of misadventures between the two Gilmore Girls and Luke getting Rory all squared away for Yale. It’s nice that rather than pushing the romantic drama hard, “The Lorelais’ First Day at Yale” basically just treats Luke and Lorelai like they’re already married, playfully jousting about how to operate the stick shift in Luke’s truck or where to unload a mattress. There’s such an effortless to Luke and Lorelai together that it feels unavailing and unnecessary when the show belabors it with teases.
But more than that, this is a great Lorelai and Rory episode. Sometimes Gilmore Girls is at its best when it just winds that pair up and watches them go. Whether it’s mishearing make-up related packing as “copperboom,” or snapping pictures with the freshman counselor, forcing oneself to take a moment to appreciate walking into your dorm for the first time, or throwing an impromptu floor party replete with pizza and delivery boys ranked on their cuteness, having the two engage in their trademark back and forth for nearly the whole episode is a wonderful tribute to their dynamic and relationship.
What’s nice is that the show pays tribute to that in less funny, more sincere ways, without overdoing it. Rory getting immediately homesick and then ranting about how something must be wrong with her and second-guessing everything is some well-done separation anxiety, and Lorelai handles it like a pro. At the same time, Lorelai saying goodbye (twice!) and clearly feeling it each time, with one alternately reassuring the other, is a nice, underplayed moment.
And then there’s the end of the episode, where Rory, having received one last big “transition into adulthood” favor from her mom is accepted by her new classmates and heads out in search of adventure. Lorelai, meanwhile, comes home to an empty house that is liable to be empty for the foreseeable future. It’s a striking contrast, and one that signifies the Gilmore Girls’ changing circumstances and differing paths in a nice, understated way.
Overall, this is a fun and funny outing for the show, that adds just enough sweet and affecting material to make the college drop-off experience feel real and relatable, while also keeping it light and humorous enough for T.V.
OK, to be honest, you're gonna have to check your expectations and pre-conceived notions at the door, and just kind of go with the flow on this one. It seems to be riffing on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Galaxy Quest, Idiocracy, Airplane, Modern Family, and a mishmash of every other comedic space themed serial in recent memory including WALL-E, that is, at least the part on the "Axiom".
A weirdly stellar cast, with House's Hugh Laurie making a reappearance not as a Starship Captain, but, an actor playing one, on a real starship, hired by the actual Captain, who had no social skills, and while pretending to be Star Trek's intrepid engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, has unfortunately impaled himself through the heart, while on an unnecessary EVA to "fix" the 23 second communications delay at the behest of Josh Gad's seemingly portly take on "genius" Elon Musk. Voyagers "Neelix" sans prosthetics, is on board as a REAL astronaut, who was the 30th man on Mars, although he was the FIRST Canadian. Journeyman Actress Rebecca Front (Doctor Who, Poldark, Humans) is irritatingly effective as busy body Karen Kelly, you know, the bossy lady that's always "all up in everyone's business", and, finally, "Being Humans" (Annie) Lenora Crichlow rounds out the cast as "the next in line to the real captain" engineer Billie.
After an (artificial) "gravity flip" during a record breaking in space yoga class flings their combined mass against a bulkhead, knocking them off course by 2.3 degrees, they discover that their 3 hour..., er, 8 month tour, is now going to take them much much longer. I'm not sure where they are going to go with this, but, if your willing to suspend disbelief, and just see how this plays out, who knows, it might just be fun.
After 12 years of watching this fantastic comedy sitcom it has come to heartfelt ending.
It is genuinely one of the funniest shows on TV with a fantastic cast and great chemistry. Sheldon Cooper maybe arrogant, self centered and in capable of emotions or empathy but you are rooting for him in the show and he quickly rises to be the star of a fantastic group. They really do come together as family and you want to hang out with these people, after 12 years of watching this show you think of Howard, Rajesh, Penny, Leonard, Bernadette, Sheldon, and Amy as friends that you really do know. They all have their stories to play out but you just don't know what to expect and when it does you love it.
They kept it relatable and especially to us nerds and that of the comic kidding, and now that Marvel is king it only made us even cooler. And seeing how nuts these guys are about Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek made them relatable to us and through everything they have been through we can relate to them.
The ending was genuinely perfect, the gang back together over a meal. We just haven't had enough of them.
Monday used to be the worst day of the week for me. Now it's the day I'm looking forward the most. Who would've thought! Me, wishing for Monday to come. Bonkers. But Legends is a breath of fresh air in my hectic schedule.
I loved the episode so much more than I was expecting. I was so looking forward to watching it since I knew Constantine would be back and even more since yesterday's magnificent news that he would be given a status of series regular in season 4. Way to go writers!
If I could go back two years in time and tell my younger self that I would be enjoying Legends so much and that it'd be my favourite DC TV show, I'm pretty sure my younger self would've burst out laughing immediately. In all honesty, this show gets my mind off of problems and gives me 42 minutes of pure joy and laugh. I'm still impressed that the writers manage to be able to write thoughtful dialogue and tons of interactions and character development in a show full of characters and that none of them misses anything. Other shows just leave some characters out or just make them useless. So well done again, writers!
That said, the episode was creepy as hell. Possessed Sara was ruthless and savage. I kinda liked it. And of course she has a thing for death. No one's going to beat her in that department. Ever. I jumped when I saw her in the original Black Canary outfit. I actually was expecting Laurel to pop up any minute, if I'm honest. And I'm surprised it didn't happen. When Black Canary said "I'm you after you died" I shouted to my screen, "yeah, but after which time?", lol.
The atmosphere was so dark (no pun intended) and gloomy that I couldn't help but enjoying it. Sara's internal conflict was great. Every season we got her dealing with death and her past but this time, it was different. Listening to her facing the reality of what she'd done was so hard, especially in what was probably the happiest moment of her life was rewarding. Listening to her accepting a life with pain and regret and avoiding giving up that easy made me think that she had overcome all her problems. However, they seem to be resurfacing and that storyline is clearly not over yet. That final scene with Ava was cruel. Let's face it guys, this is the CW, we all knew that relationship drama was eventually going to hit this show. But, let's focus on that killed talk. How refreshing was that? It went so natural. Talking about John "helped her with Mallus" back in the 60s, and actually talking about it instead of hiding it under the bed was so refreshing. It's been long time since I've seen something like this happen in a CW show. This would've been the same in other shows.
I'll never get tired of Wally. I'm at a loss as to even begin to understand why didn't they write him like this in the Flash. Seeing him shit talking hallucination Jessee was so damn good. For a moment I thought he was gonna take the bait. But he didn't. His "Oh, so worse than Flashpoint" was so great I couldn't even believe they said that.
This show is reaching a dangerous level of meta references. The writers don't even care anymore. The same goes with the Beebo references. They're getting ridiculous and I can't love it more. "So, worse than Flashpoint?" lol. I can't believe he said that.
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the episode's atmosphere was "They're gonna split up instead of going in groups and get taken down one by one, aren't they?" and guess what they did. Then I remembered that this is the classic horror movie trope. So, I started to think whose hallucination they might come across. I've gotta say it, those were cruel. I knew Nate's grandpa was gonna pop up. Even it it was for a minute, it was worth it. I thought the dead totem only showed them dead people (call it obvious thinking) but when I saw Jessee I didn't quite understand it, unless it meant that their relationship was dead. Sara's explanation at the end was satisfying. Zari and her brother, man. It hit me harder than I expected. That was so sweet and tender. I'm actually surprised she was strong enough to face the whole situation. When it comes to family and guilt, that's difficult.
If Legends is great for one thing, is for making amazing scenes which other characters rather than the Legends. One of my favourite parts of the episode was Constantine, Gary and Ava. They were so great together. Great chemistry there between Ava and Constantine.
And Gary! Man, I love Gary. Our level 9 warlock, lol. He got a kiss from Constantine and he liked it. His expression afterwards was priceless. Constantine's "Too late" I response to Gary's "Don't laugh" was a great delivery.
And of course he plays D&D and wears Beebo socks. My goodness, I'm a sock lover a d I need those. I need them! He needs to play D&D at the end of every episode to summarise the plot. Better yet, make it a new series, lol. The mood was tense and I thought the episode was gonna end on that tone. However, that final scene had me in stitches. If Gary is not confirmed to be Mallus or controlling it, I don't know in what to believe anymore.
The whole Mick being a Fire Totem bearer was a little bit on the nose, but it was fun to watch, especially to listen to him acknowledging he's not a hero, that Sara is. Honestly, I thought that Jax was gonna be the Totem bearer last episode, which can still happen, and that way Wed have our Firestorm. But seeing Mick wearing the Totem was worth because of the last scene when Constantine used his fire to light his cigarette by casually saying "While we're here", lol.
Btw, the whole Astra stuff was Amazing! I really need a season 2 of Constantine. And that fact that he appears now in Legends only makes me wanna see the show again.
Constantine: “There isn’t exactly a paint-by -number spell for locating a spaceship floating through a temporal stream. My business card says, 'Master of the Dark Arts', not Doctor Ruddy What’s-His-Face"
Gary and Ava: “Who? Who?"
Constantine: “Exactly"
Constantine is amazing.
Sara continues delivering amazing send-offs. "Mama's got a headache". And that Mona Lisa line, lmao. "Wait, wait, wait, so the Mona Lisa was a self-portrait? Da Vinci in drag". This show is bonkers.
Rory: "Doors locked. I'm gonna kill they witch!
Zari moves nervously on the background
Amaya:" If you kill her, Sara dies too"
Rory: "Better her than me"
Nate: "Dude, how can you say that?
Rory:" By moving my lips"
Nate: "And what we're you doing when Ray was getting the crop beast out of him? Day-dfinking again?!
Wally:" Hey, guys?"
Rory: "Better than kidnapping a dog"
nate: "We rescued the dog Milk!
Zari:" I'm claustrophobic!"
Seriously, their one liners are the best. I couldn't stop laughing at that scene.
Next week, we finally know what's Ava's secret which apparently is a bunch of Ava's clones. Must be paradise for Sara.
[8.4/10] I’m on record as not caring for Jamm, but that’s mostly because when the show uses him, they use him as one-dimensional, jerk antagonist. When they move Jon Glazer outside of that, and show him to be this pathetic, largely deluded little man, it not only allows the actor to shine, but it makes the character far more tolerable, and god help me, even pretty damn funny.
Making him the latest tool Tammy 2 is trying to use to get to Ron is a brilliant move on that front. Jamm listing the parade of miserables that is his life with Tammy to Leslie, and the other various tall tales the cast offer about her are great comedy. It also provides an important and understandable reason for Ron and Leslie to set aside their enmity and defrost a little bit for the greater good.
That leads to great comic set pieces, like Leslie and Ron deprogramming Jamm (with Leslie’s incredible Tammy 2 impression), or their confrontation with Tammy 2 (with Ron’s “the crotch blinder was inside you the whole time” and Tammy 2’s “there’s a prize inside for you”). But it also leads to great character moments for the growing Leslie-Ron detante, where Leslie is offered the winning vote on the city council and turns it down to save Jamm, and Ron is willing to set aside his and Leslie’s differences to help a fellow man. It’s a nice moment for the pair to recognize what they once liked about each other despite their current estrangement.
The other two stories in the episode were a little hit or miss. I like the idea of Tom being finally successful in his professional life, but feeling unfulfilled in his personal life. Bringing back Lucy is a good way to go with that, but the whole “Oh no, we ended up in Chicago! And I offered her a job instead of asking her out! And she has a boyfriend!” feels like cheesy sitcom stuff rather than the organic comedy and storytelling of the show. Still, Aziz gives a particularly funny performance being awkward around his crush, and Chris Pratt is on fire with Andy genuinely worrying about this “new job” he’s taking in Chicago or tucking into a stranger’s plate of half-eaten spaghetti.
The last story, with April hearing Joan’s speech and trying to find her dream job with Ben, is a nice idea, but a little undercooked. I do really enjoy the April-Ben pairing, but the two of them going to a punning mortician and blanching when April learns there’s still lots of paperwork in the job didn’t do much for me. I don’t know. I should like this storyline more, because I appreciate them further developing April and I like the pairing, it just felt like less than the sum of its parts. (Though Donna’s “orbit of Saturn” coda was hilariously-delivered.)
Overall, a still funny and well done episode that does the seemingly impossible feat of redeeming the presence of Jeremy Jamm!
[9.1/10] Maybe the secret trick to getting a good, spiritual, philosophical episode of The Original Series is just to bring Diana Muldaur in as a guest star. It’s hard to believe that the future Dr. Polaski, who rather irked me in her turn on The Next Generation, is such a shot in the arm to Star Trek, both here and in “Return to Tomorrow”.
Muldaur brings a grace but also a firmness in her portrayal of her Star Trek characters. Dr. Miranda Jones is an interesting role to play, requiring her to be both the equal and opposite of Spock as a human with telepathic abilities raised on the Vulcan home world in order to master her abilities. Muldaur is up to the challenge. Writer Jean Lisette Aroeste gives Dr. Jones agency in the story, and Muldaur gives her a presence, and leans into her resistance to the various individuals fawning over her, in a way that makes her a memorable and important guest star right off the bat.
“”Is There No Truth in Beauty,” true to its name, is an episode that plays in both poetry and irony. While philosophical ruminations on the nature of beauty could be tedious in other hands, Aroeste’s script makes exchanges over dinner, or debates between Kirk and Jones feel lyrical, serious, and engaging. Despite the outlandishness of the premise, Star Trek takes it all seriously, and that pays off.
By the same token, it doesn’t shy away from the elegance or ironies of the situation. The notion of a beautiful woman who is blind, and thus unable to see her own beauty, but also who also understands (and is understandably dismissive) of the effect it has on those around her, is an interesting one. By the same token, her affection for Ambassador Kolos, someone no human can look upon, makes sense.
Full disclosure, it’s tough for me to articulate what makes this episode great because so much of it is in the execution, which is laden with layers of complexity and performance that are hard to put into words. For instance, the alien species introduced here, The Medusans, have a ridiculous name, and the idea that merely looking at them in their true form could make a person go mad, could be a ridiculous plot device.
Instead, “Beauty” turns it into a meditation on the nature of aesthetics, and a compelling premise about what makes us who we are and how we’re shaped by the ways in which we can and cannot perceive the world. To that end, the highlight of the episode comes when Spock mind-melds with Kolos and the two become one.
For one thing, it’s another chance for Leonard Nimoy to stretch his acting muscles a bit and portray a version of Spock who is more expressive. (Though to be fair, the show goes to that well fairly frequently.) It’s a treat to hear Spock laugh, to see him call Kirk a good friend, to have him chuckle with recognition of Bones, and speak poetry to Uhura. Making Spock emotional, practically human, for more than about three minutes would quickly start to feel like too much, but the episode whets the audience’s appetite for this glimpse at the repressed inner feelings of Spock without overdoing them.
At the same time, Nimoy and the script craft a quick but compelling character in Kolos. It fits that Muldaur links this episode to “Return to Tomorrow” because the two installments play at similar themes. Kolos remarks on the odd futility of language, again speaking poetically, and marvels at the way corporeal beings are so alone, limited to their shells. It’s a form of lateral thinking, truly capturing the way a different form of life would respond to the novelty of ours, in a fashion that gives force to Kolos’s short time as a humanoid.
There’s also some outstanding direction, design, and editing work in the episode. There’s more directorial creativity here than Trek’s tight production schedule and reduced budgets allow for. But “Beauty” depicts the madness of seeing a Medusan first-hand well. There is a frenetic, dizzying pace to the scenes where humans confront the Medusans.
The tye-dye flashes are a little cheesy, but for the most part the episode does well to convey the mental unraveling through a rush of images. The quick cuts offering different angles on the same events, seeing things from the maddened character’s distorted perspective, and the rapid jumps from one image to another, communicate the mental chaos well.
In the same vein, Particular kudos are owed to David Frankham, who plays Marvik. It’s a tough thing to play a man who goes crazy in the span of about fifteen minutes without seeming too over the top, but Frankham plays his scary “I simply love you too much” just right and then rants and raves in a way that convincingly portrays Marvik’s depleting sanity.
The episode isn’t perfect. Frankly, it goes about one act too long, with the story beat of having to save Spock’s mind after he sees the Medusan unsheathed feels a bit tacked on, even if it’s a necessary challenge for Jones to overcome her insecurities and inability to mentally link with Kolos. And watching Kirk berate and manhandle her so as to prompt that solution is more than a little uncomfortable.
Still, “Beauty” works as a high-minded reflection on what it is to perceive things and how that shapes what we value and how we identify, but also as an interesting plot progression with murder, unique challenges, and elegant solutions. Reveals that Jones is not only blind, but basically Daredevil with her sensor suit are intriguing and add poetry to the proceedings. Marvik steering the ship into an unknown hole in the time space continuum requiring a Medusan to steer them out of it makes for a clockwork problem.
And on top of all of these, the episode spends time to have the characters debating and challenging one another over what really matters aesthetically and qualitatively in life. Star Trek is, as ever, a bit ironically provincial about such things, but it still crafts interesting, unusual characters to communicate opposing views and enunciate opposing perspectives. “Beauty” is a highfalutin episode of Star Trek to be sure (though it has its share of action and excitement) and it’s easy to see how that might bore some folks or scare them away. But I love when Trek gets high-minded and philosophical like this, and bringing back Muldaur to deliver the lyrical dialogue here (and leaning on the talented Nimoy to do the same) results in a poignant and insightful episode.
