It has dated badly in many ways - and the dubbed acting was always terrible - but some of the models and particularly the design of the spacecraft is still superb. It's probably a 5 hour long story told over 10 hours, and so it takes a long time for anything meaningful to happen (endless tedious identical battles make up most of the first 10 episodes, plus there are 2 clip shows within the first half of the series, one dedicated to... highlights of the tedious space battles), but when it does get good (around episode 15) it's still a brilliant rush to the finish line.
last episode was a massive let down
You’re less likely to enjoy this the further away you are from its target audience.
It leans more towards the Saw side than the Scream side of teenage horror; it’s really vapid and witless.
A little less edgy and angsty perhaps, and it uses more of a goth aesthetic, but still so much of it feels contrived and cliché nevertheless.
Some interesting visual ideas here and there, but also a lot of wonky acting, cheesy dialogue, uninteresting characters, awkward pacing, odd editing choices and underlit scenes (yes, I did take into account that this is a horror movie).
It manages to build some scary atmosphere at points (props for not relying on jump scares), however I never felt completely engaged by it.
Maybe that’s due to me not being the target audience, but then again we also just got Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, which is a lot better and you should probably watch instead.
4/10
Not what I imagined. Episode was great.
Totally jaw droping the last episode. I did not see that coming.
Fantastic season.
This timeist bullshit is making me angry. It’s just as bad as racism. To have people working actively in the police force who are either is a shame. They ought to never have been allowed to start working there to begin with.
Episode finished without me realizing.. I'm super excited for this.. Rogue One was one of my favorite Star Wars movies
definitely better than Obi-Wan Kenobi
That Security Force is probably good Stormtrooper material. :laughing:
Anyway, still slow burning. The whole first three episodes released today are rather on long pilot movie I guess. Let's see how that movie ends.
[7.6/10] What a format bender! It’s impressive to see Primal pivot so expertly. Moving us forward in time to 1890 and seeing how proper English gentlemen would fare against someone like Spear is a wild departure from the usual program, but an engrossing one.
The episode wears its themes on its sleeve, as a Darwin-esque nobleman posits that our degree of civilization is merely a layer on top of our more primal selves, and that when confronted with a deadly threat, we’d revert back to our essential, atavistic selves. The thrust of the episodes sees the other upper crust-y know-it-alls in their historical society deride Charles’ theory as poppycock, only to see it proven before their eyes when a feral “madman” attacks them in their manor.
The attack is thrilling and scary. As fans of Samurai Jack know, Tartakovsky and company can do horror like nobody’s business, and this is as good an example as any. The show turns its 1890s wildman into a slasher movie villain, stalking the English gents and taking them out one by one in gruesome fashion while the remainder try to survive. A rabid, cannibalistic caveman isn’t a traditional antagonist, but the novel thought experiment of educated men versus a comparatively simple yet cunning animalistic human carries the day.
What’s interesting is the way Darlington, the skeptic, gradually reverts as he fights the “madman.” The modern men’s tools follow the timeline in reverse, as they go from guns, to swords, to arrows, to a large bone. The fighting styles themselves devolve at the same time, with Darlington’s superior boxing technique eventually giving way to wilder flails and stabs. It takes a harrowing experience, but soon, he affirms Charles’ theory by putting it into practice, reverting to his primal state in order to beat the intruder in his home.
The point, as I read it, is something of a mission statement from the show’s creative team. Sure, this is a fun flight of fancy all on its own. At the same time, though, it suggests why the show chose to follow a caveman without language whose primitive nature makes he seems at so far a remove from contemporary viewers. Spear represents something essential in us, something still buried down there deep, that could be revealed under life-and-death circumstances. I’m not sure I agree with the premise, but it’s an interesting theme to understand this break from the usual style and stories.
Spear may be gone in modern times, but some part of him lives on, in the spear-holding gentleman who stands in victory above a caveman-like attacker, and in the current day viewers like us, who remain awed by Spear’s exaggerated acts of fury and courage, so many ages after his kind gave way to ours.
Tough to see Ray Liotta in one of his last scenes. He will be dearly missed :(.
Three episodes in.
Episode 3 seems to have picked up the pace a bit. Pilot was weak, the opening scene of episode 1 just seemed really corny, I skipped it. Then the arrest was so cringe, felt like CBS procedural quality.
The writing in some spots has been not great, and just doesn’t make sense. For example, why a guard is able to exploit Jimmy’s cover? This guard could get sentenced for obstructing a case or black mail. And they do all this impressive operation of putting Jimmy incognito in a high security prison, which would be pretty expensive, but don't have 10k in their budget to pay the guard? It feels very contrived.
But my biggest problem with this show is the dialogue – it’s just terrible, really disjointed and unnatural. The dialogues with the female FBI agent are the worst.
Based on the critical acclaim, I think I set my expectations too high but Black Bird is no Mindhunter or True Detective.
Good call by the dad, i didn’t even think about something happening in the other prison and they add time to his sentence. Thats why you should think about all scenarios before you make a life changing decision
That's me just watched the fourth episode and so far ive been left a bit disappointed,im hoping it will pick up in the last few episodes or this will be a one season show.