Best episode so far. Great choreography in the fight scenes but unfortunately let down by the horrendous dialogue and extremely lazy writing. The editing and cuts between scenes still feels off too. But I guess it's a step in the right direction!!
super silly writing and mediocre acting, glad the episodes are short.
A slight improvement over the last 4 episodes. When I remove the smoke-and-mirrors lightsaber battle from the equation though, I'm lefts asking "is that all that happened?" and "where is the $180million dollars Lebowski?". 8 episodes will be chopped up into a 60 second video of stuff actually happening to save future generations from wasting their precious time.
i honestly loved the ending - i had low expectations for how it could be wrapped up in this episode alone so maybe that helped. my favorite part was charlie being the one to step into and out of the box first. not sure why but it warms my heart a lot.
It seems that the Downeys had fun - she was producing and he was playing half of the cast … a bit too much for my taste …
4 too many Robert Downey Jrs at the end, felt way too gimmicky
robert downey jr is distracting in the worst way possible
I wanted to enjoy this but couldn't get past eye contacts on both Robert Downey Jr. and Hoa Xuande that don't look natural at all. It's uncanny and distracting. Also, I wish they had just cast separate actors to play all the 'white' characters instead of giving Robert Downey Jr. this flashy opportunity to wear different makeup/hair/costumes.
The show is not funny enough, and not serious enough.
Another episode where intimate character scenes (Rhaenyra confronting Daemon, Alicent and Helaena's grief during the procession, Otto vs Aegon/Criston; the last one makes Rhys Ifans this ep's MVP with some prime exasperated, world-weary expressions) far outstrip the big-picture stuff, which still feels in building-up mode that comes off almost too disconnected (Alyn & Addam scenes feel like future-plot breadcrumbs dropped abruptly in two eps now).
I really wasn't sure what to expect, especially as my Wife read the book and had her own reservations about an adaptation, but they did a fantastic job telling this story. This is a very different type of Holocaust story, and I don't just mean the story itself, but the way it was told, it was just very different than previous tellings of Holocaust stories, and I would recommend this, but don't binge it, let the episodes sync in.
One of the things I appreciate most with the way this was done, was they showed something you never see in other movies, they showed how people went YEARS waiting to learn about their families, Addy had 8 years of no contact while in Brazil, 8 YEARS. My paternal grandparents were survivors from Lodz, Poland (the place where the Mom gets upset about the family who got their house and possessions), and just 12 or so years ago, we learned of another cousin who had survived and went to Australia. He was my Grandfather's 1st cousin, and no one knew he survived, and he never knew anyone else did, and I know this is happening all over the world now, but I really appreciated them making this a point, as my Grandmother spoke OFTEN about the years before she knew the fates of so many people, and you never see that represented in media.
The first episodes of S01 keep introducing new characters which makes little to no sense at first. Later they attempt to assamble those puzzle pieces to a bigger picture. Works for S01 but does not hold for S02. A lot stays unclear. The plot is not conclusive. S02 is mainly build around random events and questionable decisions.
I would agree, that these might be AI generated scripts. You recognize a lot of story elements that worked for other shows but here the mix just won‘t fly.
It is like AI telling a joke and you remember it been funny in another context.
I thought Season 1 was pretty decent and I had high hopes for where it was going.
However Season 2 is a hot mess.
That said, the acting, setting, and special effects are fine, but the plot and writing is really immature and most of it makes no sense.
Get new writers for Season 3, if they haven't already blown it and been cancelled.
I do wonder what the police will make of all these dead ‘Jason’s’ they’ll keep finding
Disney have yet again slopped out another 30 minutes of nothing much happening, for a budget of $1million per minute.
Another solid episode to reward viewers who stuck through the slow start and made it this far. I'm glad they didn't try to adapt the incredibly lame "chat room" multi Jason reveal from the source material. The gun shop tease at the end of the previous episode left those who haven't read the book boiling over in suspense, and this episode delivered the payoff.
For the sake of the show, we'll ignore the fact that Blake Crouch doesn't comprehend the concept of infinity. If only a small fraction of an infinite number of Jasons made it back, the result is still an infinite amount. For example, half of infinity is still infinity. If 0.000001% of infinite Jasons made it back, then infinite Jasons made it back. That's just how it works.
Nonetheless, this makes for good "popcorn sci fi" if you don't think too hard about it. Don't even get me started on the quantum mechanics errors.
Anyway, all your questions should now be answered, with a big new question remaining. How do they handle all the Jason 1s? From their perspective, each one of them fought impossible odds across numerous realities to finally make it back to their family, following a similar journey as "our" Jason 1 with different decisions made along the way. Each of them are the "good Jason" and rightfully deserve to be with Daniella. So who gets her, and what about the others? Despite already knowing how the source material plays out, I find myself really looking forward to the finale.
Helaena's reaction was actually SO in character for me. She was deeply traumatized, locked in her own body, completely and utterly scared. I think Phia's acting was fucking incredible
They weren't lying about the name of the episode.
Anyone else annoyed by how desperate they are to force Morris Gibbons on us?
2005, 1st episode of the revived Doctor Who, "Rose", written by RTD. A conspiracy theorist summarizes the Doctor for Rose:
- The Doctor is a legend, woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake,
and has one constant companion.
- Who's that?
- Death.
2024: "He has hidden within the tempest. He’s braved the storm and the darkness and pain and he whispered to the vessel. All this time he whispered and delighted and seduced and the vessel did obey."
Well, he really meant it.
I enjoy learning about the history of the force and the Jedi. Unfortunately, it's presented with horrible writing, forgettable characters and such a mixed bag of acting quality that the show struggles to keep my attention. Hopefully it gets better...
Oh boy, the bigots are really going to hate this episode.
"The Power of One, Power of Two, Power of Many" chant during the Ascension ceremony was lame AF.
The Jedi take Sol at 4 years old. Where did he get his accent from?
[7.7/10] I love me some gray areas in my Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, the light side vs. dark side stuff. But as I’ve grown older, I appreciate stories, including Star Wars stories, that acknowledge our communities and our choices are rarely that simple.
So I like the fact that the Nightsisters (or at least some kind of presumably related witches’ coven) are presented as a counterpoint to the Jedi, not the villains of the piece. This flashback serves a number of purposes. It gives us some of that vaunted backstory, to help us understand where Osha and Mae and Sol and others are coming from. It fills in the gaps of the events that loom so large in the histories of our twin protagonists, letting the audience see them (or most of them) after being tantalized by only being told about them so far.
But most of all, it establishes a different, but no less valid alternative to the force-users we know. We’ve seen the Jedi. We’ve seen the Sith. We’ve seen the Nightsisters who, while sometimes sympathetic (hello Fallen Order fans!), also seem to be harnessing some kind of black magic. We’ve seen the Bendu, who’s more neutral than gray. And we’ve even seen the more passive and meditative Bardottans. (Aka, the species Jar Jar’s girlfriend is from -- no I’m not joking.)
But we’ve never seen anything quite like this coven led by Osha and Mae’s mother, Mother Aniseya. I love that they have a different take on the Force. The coven thinks the Jedi view the Force as a power to be wielded, whereas they view it more as a thread, a tapestry between peoples and events, that can be tugged and pulled to cause changes amid that weaving. Their perspective on the Force is a collectivist one, where their connection to it is given strength by the multitude, in contrast to the Jedi’s view on attachments. And they don’t view the Force as directing fate, but rather as providing for choices -- one of the core ideas of the franchise.
That is all neat! One of the best parts of The Last Jedi is the notion that the Force does not belong to the Jedi. It is, instead, something that flows through all peoples. Exploring that there may be different religions out there, different means of reaching and interpreting it, adds depth ot he world and adds complication to the binary. It’s nearly never a bad thing to add that kind of complexity and ecumenical spirit to your universe.
More or less. One of the other things I appreciate is that the Coven and the jedi view one another with suspicion, even though they’re mutually respectful at first. The coven sees the Jedi as arrogant, too focused on power, too individualistic. The Jedi view the Coven as dark, as corrupting, as dangerous. I’m always a fan of shows that don’t present one perspective, but rather explore how the different vantage points affect the different views groups may have of one another. (Shades of Deep Space Nine from the other major star-bound franchise!)
This is all to say that the Coven is different than what we’re used to, but no less valid. The Jedi as we see them here are different than what we’re used to, but not invalid. And their twin approaches, alike in dignity, come through in the fulcrum between the Coven and the Order: Mea and Osha.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room with those two. The young actress (actresses?) who play the earlier version of the twins aren’t very good. That's no sin. Giving a convincing performance as an adult with years of experience remains startlingly difficult. But the reality is that, though these young actors are giving it their all, there is a put on, stagey quality to the performance that can take you out of the moment. I dearly hope the fandom is kind to them nonetheless. It’s tough being a young performer, especially in a high profile role. But despite a nice moment from Osha when she realizes the gravity of what she’s lost, a lot of the acting from the kiddos is apt to take the viewer out of the moment.
Thankfully, the writing helps make up for it. Not for nothing, given Lucasfilm’s current ownership, much of this feels like the first act of a film from the Disney Renaissance. Osha could be your classic Disney princess. She loves her family and wants to do good and be righteous, but she has this yearning for something different, beyond the garden gate. The episode lays it on a little thick in places, but it’s a venerable story beat for a reason. There’s something compelling about someone trying to make the best of a family situation that doesn’t quite fit them but yearning adventure out past the horizon. (I mean, hey, it worked for Luke Sykwalker.) Osha is roughly one “I want” song from joining the little mermaid and company.
What I like about it, though, is that you feel for all sides of this situation. You feel for Osha. She wants to have an existence separate from her twin. She doesn’t feel like she fits in with the Coven. She doesn’t want to disappoint her moms or her sister. But she doesn’t want to lie. She doesn’t want to deny herself. She doesn’t want to give up this thing inside her telling her she wants more, or at least different.
You feel for Mae. She admittedly, has signs of being the “evil” twin. (Though I guess they both seem to use their force powers to freeze that translucent butterfly? I’ll admit, it was confusing who was who there at points.) She feels at home in the Coven. She loves the immediate family and the wider one. She has power and ease, and the confidence that comes from feeling that you’re where you ought to be. In the end, she does a terrible thing, but she’s an eight-year-old lashing out at an unfortunate situation. In the larger than life confines of fiction, it’s an easy thing for me to forgive.
You feel for Mother Aniseya. She is trying to protect her people. She wants to raise her daughters in her own proud tradition. But she also wants them to find their own path to it. But, from the vantage point of being a little older and a little wiser, she knows that what you want can change. What makes sense in the exuberance of youth can fall out of favor when it makes contact with the knots and tangles of that great ethereal thread. Wanting to protect your child, to instill your values in theme, while respecting their autonomy as young people is an impossible balance. Aniseya handles it with understanding and grace.
Heck, you even understand Mother Koril, who is the more strict and belligerent parental figure here. The cultural conditions are mostly implied, but it’s easy to intuit how the Coven has been marginalized, diminished, possibly by Force. The girls represent their future, and it seems to have required a great deal of her and her partner to make that happen. Why wouldn’t she do anything to protect her girls, and mistrust the Jedi who would deign to take their future away from her and her family?
And you also feel for Sol. The Acolyte already conveyed a very fatherly vibe between him and Osha,but this episode cements it. I have my qualms about what happens to the young woman, but Sol seems searnest when he tells her that she could be a great Jedi, when he imparts that courage means pursuing honestly what you want, when he embraces her in the throes of tragedy and wants to take her on as a surrogate child. The estranged relationship between them in the present is counterbalanced by this fraught but touching connection between them in the past.
Of course, that past is no less slippery. For one thing, there’s still much that's alluded to that we don’t quite see. Presumably there was some conflict between the Jedi and the Coven that Osha wasn’t privy to, which we’ll see down the line. Presumably, it’s part of what spurred Mae to take the actions she did. Presumably it’s why there’s great regret among the Jedi who survived the encounter. And that's before you get into the fact that apparently Mother Aniseya channeled some forbidden magic, or at least did something controversial, to bring the twins’ lives into being. There’s plenty of lore and intrigue yet.
But for now, at least, we have two cultures at odds with one another, in ways that question and complicate our sympathies. This is Star Wars. We know who the Jedi are. We’re apt to side with them, to see them as Osha does, as peacekeepers and heroes of the galaxy. (Even if we’ve seen their ossification and dissolution over the course of the Prequels.) When Osha wants to be a Jedi, and her witch family tells her to lie, to deny herself what she wants in the same of something she’s uncertain about, it’s easy to see Indara and company as rescuers.
And yet, it’s also hard not to see this different means of reaching the Force, that is apparently all but outlawed, and not have serious qualms about the equivalent of religious persecution. The notion that the Coven is allowed to exist, but forbidden from passing on their knowledge to children is startling. It’s clear that there remains animosity between the Coven and the Jedi, born of mutual mistrust, with ostensible peacemakers and instigators. And it’s hard to think of Republic law allowing the Jedi to test and, with some permission, take children away to be taught in their fashion, without thinking of real life colonial schools, and so-called “residential schools” in the United States, that have a checkered history at best.
So while the show makes things a little too blunt with Mae and Osha standing across from one another on a broken bridge, you get the reasons behind the actions and anguish between these two young girls, between their various parents, between Jedi and the Coven. This is not black and white, good and evil, light and dark. This is something more muddled and uncertain than that. And it portends deeper and more interesting things as the mythos of Star Wars evolves before our eyes.
(Speculative spoilers: My bet is that Mae’s master is one of her moms, probably Mother Koril. THough I guess it being the comparatively peaceful and forgiving Aniseya would be a bigger twist. The law of conservation of characters suggests it’s one of them, unless it’s secretly Master Vernestra or something. But one of the moms would be the bigger emotional gut punch, so I presume and hope it’s one of them.)
The new Doctor Who series is going from strength to strength. This was such a quintessential DW episode. Proper balance of camp, cheese, humour, and drama. Jonathan Groff as Rogue is an instant new favourite. Their chemistry with Ncuti Gatwa is ridiculous. Ruby is also shaping to be one of my favourite companions. Reminding the Doctor that it's OK to acknowledge his emotions, to accept feeling sad and hurt and talk about it instead of bottling it up, felt very fitting with the new direction the character is taking and I'm here for it.
Also good luck to the "Doctor Who is woke now" crowd who are unable to process a Black Doctor being unapologetically queer on screen, not sure they're going to be able to handle this one without short-circuiting.
It does feel normal in it's creatures and plot structure with the historical setting, but i don't think it's a typical kind of episode. It's very Doctor focused, like the one with Madame De Pompadour where the Doctor had a romance with the guest character while his companions investigated the spaceship where they didn't have much to do. I feel the same with this episode with Ruby where she mostly lead around that woman, and while she gave her advice and they seemed to become friends, she turned out to be a villain anyway? And their friendship had no impact? It all felt a bit wasted, while the Doctor gets deeper development in his relationship with Rogue.
I like the episode, i think it's good and fun with the dancing and historical setting, but there are some caveats to it like what i mentioned, and i thought the villain creatures and their characters were generic. The relationship between Rogue and the Doctor did feel a tad bit rushed, and it was harder to connect with it since they have strikingly different personalities and Rogue was rude to him at first, and isn't very expressive as a character.
But i did like and buy their development overall. I loved the music scene in the spaceship and thought that was good flirting, and i liked the Doctor and Ruby immersing themselves in the historical setting. I really felt a strong sense of Ncuti's unique characterization of the Doctor this episode.
It had a really rough start, the dialogue was wooden, the choreography was too premeditated, and the acting wasn't doing any favours for that dialogue....but once we got past the first 15 minutes it picked up some steam and while I'm still on the fence, this wasn't too bad
2024-01-01T00:00:00Z2024-12-31T23:59:59Z