I’ve seen two episodes now and I’ve got to ask: what’s the point of watching this?
There’s nothing inherently satisfying about the show itself.
Just putting a twist on existing lore and calling it a day isn’t enough to hold my attention for 30 mimutes, nor any sane person, I imagine.
Are people only watching this because it sets up future stuff?
Why would anyone watch something that’s just set-up?
Projects are always supposed to function as an isolated piece of art, and not just as a piece of a larger machine.
This show is so empty, it’s the kind of format that lends itself for short 4 minute videos on Youtube.
But a feature series? Come on.
Edit: alright so there is an attempt to tie the loose ends together in the final episode, but still, it kinda fails to justify its existence.
These new Disney+ series are developing into the the modern, overbudgeted equivalent of direct-to-video films from the ‘90s.
In an age where popular and accessible television is continuously pushed to new and exciting heights (Daredevil, Money Heist, Ted Lasso, Stranger Things, Arcane to name a few), these recent shows banking on the Star Wars and Marvel brands feel amateurish, schlocky, and often read like bad fan fiction.
Look, Boba Fett in the original trilogy is nothing more than a visual.
He’s not really a character, I think he has about 4 or 5 lines, but he became popular because of his look.
You can’t just throw me in a story where he’s the main character and expect me to care without putting in the work.
It’s a show that operates in Disney’s new business model of throwing references, ‘member berries and empty spectacle on the screen, while the important and engaging stuff (character, story, drama, emotion, filmmaking) are reduced to an afterthought.
Granted, that’s pretty much the same problem that I have with a lot of IP related content from the past couple of years, but this show in particular feels so calculated, focus tested and cynical, it’s gross.
Even the production kinda sucks this time around (compared to The Mandalorian), it looks really ugly and washed out, more like Marvel than Star Wars.
Where is the voice of Jon Favreau?
Where is the voice of the director of Iron Man, one of the most character driven and vibrant blockbusters of the past 20 years?
This show is not even close to being up to par in just about every sense.
A horrible piece of military propaganda primarily aimed at the type of ‘real’ men who like to consume too much beer and hang around in their own garage while listening to Alter Bridge.
It’s dumb, derivative, dull and devoid of interesting ideas or characters. You’re not going to find any fun here, everything is trying really hard to be dour and dramatic, but the writing is so generic and boring that it doesn’t work.
Chris Pratt's charisma is stripped away and instead he's playing a generic, brooding character that could easily be portrayed by any actor.
It just begs the question: why cast him in the first place? It requires little to no range, so why didn't they just cast a cheaper actor?
Any interesting cinematography is obscured by desaturated muddy grey tones, the color grading really makes the whole show looks like trash. It tries to be cinematic, but it ends up looking all the more cheaper for it.
I don’t get why people watch this, is it because of the patriotic undertones? Watch Top Gun Maverick. Is it because it’s a little more violent than most movies and shows? Watch Daredevil, the execution of the action is way better and it’s got plenty of Christianity as a bonus.
3/10
When it comes to the prequel trilogy, Disney has gone from barely acknowledging its existence to now padding their story out with fan fiction, all within the span of only a couple of years. The results are, as you might expect, pathetic and mind-numbingly dull. There’s just no way around it: this is another dreadful Disney+ show with production and directing that somehow manages to be even worse than The Book of Boba Fett. There’s this old Hollywood cliché that women can’t direct action, and well, I’ll just say that this show doesn’t do that stereotype any favours. Ewan McGregor kinda delivers, but most of the performances in this show are awkward and cringy. It looks really, really bland for the most part, and the story is uninteresting and dumb. It makes little to no sense in the timeline. Revenge of the Sith took its time to cram everyone into their starting position for A New Hope, and the fact that we have characters meeting up again between those time periods kinda fucks with the whole continuity in A New Hope, which only adds to the fan fiction feel of the show.
3/10
Even with the soapy melodrama, occasional bad acting and a considerably lower budget (probably 2% of the budget of this show per episode): Arrow managed to create better characters and more visceral, memorable and coherent action scenes in its first 2 seasons compared to this show. I’ll even go as far to say that it looks better, despite using incredibly basic set ups and filmmaking techniques. Getting Hailee Steinfeld was a great choice, but her character isn’t leaving a very strong or likable impression. In comparison, Joss Whedon managed to make you care about Clint’s character within 15 minutes of screentime. Well, enough to make you care as a side character.
Moreover, this feels like a studio giving their impression of a Marvel Netflix show, like Daredevil or Jessica Jones, but it doesn’t understand what makes those shows good. It’s so tame and uninspired. It seems to aim for 80’s cheese at points, but even those old action movies had some bite to them (despite how silly they could get). The comedy is mostly flat out lame and cringy, with the role playing scene probably being the lowest low of the entire MCU so far. The recent Marvel projects have had such a weird shift in terms of comedy. They used to be great at making mass product films that were at least a little bit clever and subversive. It’s no surprise that a lot of people who worked on Community also work behind the scenes at Marvel. It’s like they fired those writers after phase 3 ended, and hired the Friends team instead. Their quality control is spreading very thin.
It starts out like this fun, sharp social satire about the different worlds that the working class and upper class exhibit (as well as the lack of understanding they have about each other). As the season goes along, the social satire gets pushed aside and instead it goes completely bonkers with the plot. It’s over the top, it switches genres whenever it feels like it, it’s unpredictable, and most of all it’s very entertaining. In fact, it might actually be one of the most accessible A24 productions, there’s a Tarantino feel to it that might just click with general audiences. I just don’t understand this show’s obsession with alt rock from the late 90s and early 00s. I don’t see what it adds to these characters, it doesn’t comment on the story in an interesting way, and most of these particular songs aren’t even that good. To me it feels like a middle of the road, safe choice for a show that’s otherwise so bold, exciting and carefully assembled.
8/10
The next chapter in Marvel’s struggle of bringing the MCU formula to television.
It sounds simple enough in concept, as they’ve built their brand around making simple, unpretentious, linear, streamlined stories with good characters and big spectacle.
I think they consistently check the character box, television shows included, and this thing is no different. It helps a lot that they got Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke, both of whom are phenomenal actors. They’re capable of adding so much life and colour to these characters, some of which probably isn’t even written on the page (could’ve done without the accent, though).
However, for as consistent as they are with nailing their characters, they’re becoming about as consistent with messing up in the story and spectacle department for these shows.
Marvel’s probably aware that they need to add some bells and whistles to their usual storytelling for a 6 hour miniseries, but so far the results have been mostly convoluted and messy (Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Loki). Moon Knight is no different, because despite some serious attempts at experimentation, most of it doesn’t pan out due to the schlocky execution.
As for the spectacle, yeah it’s pretty bad. Scale has nothing to do with how impressive an action sequence is, as even evidenced by even the best moments in the MCU (for my money, the absolute highlight is still the highway shootout in The Winter Soldier ). So, you really don’t need to do a crazy car chase with CGI trucks, trees, George Michael and a plethora of green screen if your show can’t afford it. You don’t need to attempt fancy mirror visuals I’ve seen in countless horror films if they’re too expensive. Scale it down, focus on the choreography and make sure everything looks good. Again, taking a page out of the Marvel Netflix book would work a lot better for this character. Furthermore, the Moon Knight suit has the exact same problem as the MCU Spider-man suits. It looks like animation, not a man in a suit.
Add the usual uninspired filmmaking, flat lighting (as well as underlit scenes, I might add), boring shot/reverse shot framing and general lack of colour/style, and I’m seeing nothing but another boring, by the numbers show. Its only appeal are the two main actors, both of whom are way too good for this and deserve a lot better.
A show about using sex and sexual imagery to sell media.
Is this HBO reflecting on itself?
Jokes aside, it’s actually pretty good. Recommended.
I watched half a season, it kinda blows to be honest.
It’s too dumb for its own good (given how overly serious it presents itself), poorly shot and edited (the action scenes really suck in particular), lots of questionable acting, and the story is predictable and uninspired.
God fucking help us all if this is supposed to be a show for 'manly men'.
Anthony Starr is very good in it, and yeah it’s got lots of tits and blood, which is great, but if you’re looking for that I’d recommend Spartacus over this in a heartbeat.
I feel like the only real hook with this show are the sex scenes, which you can also find plenty of on the internet.
This is good and fun.
It does have edge and sharp writing (also some corny toilet humour, but you kinda have to accept that with James Gunn at this point) which makes it stand out in its genre.
In fact, this thing is kind of a blessing in a time where most superhero content is running out of ideas and getting increasingly more bland.
It’s a show that fits comfortably with the current HBO brand, as they have perfected the art of making shows where the main characters are kinda like nails on a chalkboard, but still interesting and entertaining nonetheless (White Lotus, Succession).
John Cena plays one of the most unlikeable human beings you can imagine (racist, patriotic, dumb, douchy, listens to cheesy 80s hardrock/hairmetal) but you’re still glued to the screen because he’s so unpredictable and interesting.
Clearly, he’s not the greatest actor, but he’s got that same presence that The Rock and Schwarzenegger have (to a lesser degree than those actors, but still), meaning that if the director knows how to use them, they can be great leads.
I kinda wish we knew the layers this show gives to his character before seeing The Suicide Squad.
The story is fine, as is the filmmaking.
It looks nowhere near as good as The Suicide Squad, but they still manage to be stylistic just through the use of dialogue, music, editing, etc.
Watch it if you’re a fan of The Boys, Kick Ass, or just edgy stuff in general from directors like James Gunn, Matthew Vaughn or Quentin Tarantino.
As per usual with many popular shows and films, it’s overhyped, overly serious, emotionally manipulative and mostly dumb.
It’s a show that thinks that people with shitty lives and gambling problems are willing to die for a 0.1% chance of winning a lot of money.
Bit of a thin motivation, wouldn’t you say?
Wouldn’t you probably flee the country, if your financial situation was that shitty? Wouldn’t you rather rob a bank, or a rich family? Yeah me too, I wouldn’t hesitate for a single second if it was between that or participating in some sadistic game.
It’s such a silly concept, and yet it’s presented as if this is some sort of serious and important drama with a lot of social commentary about poverty.
I’m sorry, but this is a show where the big villain looks like he walked out of a comic book (he literally looks like Victor van Doom from the Fantastic Four), and his minions have masks with Playstation buttons on them.
It’s schlock, but it thinks it’s Parasite.
And don’t get met even started on the acting, it’s fucking horrible.
This might’ve worked if our characters would be forced to participate involuntarily, but at that point you’re just remaking Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, so you’re kinda screwed regardless with this concept.
It tries to spin too many plates, and it fails in every sense of the word.
Just for comparison, take a look at Wandavision.
That show consists of 2 storylines, namely inside of Westview and outside of Westview, and both of those storylines belong to the same plot.
Then take a look at this show:
- There’s the stuff with Karli and the flag smashers
- Then there’s all the stuff with John Walker and his storyline as replacement Cap
- It also wants to act as a Civil War sequel by picking up Zemo’s storyline and the Wakandans chasing after him.
- Let’s not forget about Sharon Carter and the stuff in Madripoor
- Oh yeah, there’s also a very ham-fisted and tacked on plotline regarding how Cap was supposed to be black
- And finally you have all of the personal stuff of Sam and Bucky, which also includes the therapist and Sam’s sister
I dare anyone to summarize the plot of this show in a few sentences, you simply won’t be able to because it’s so incoherent.
That’s not even to mention how dumb and poorly thought out this show as a whole is.
It wouldn’t be such a problem if it took itself less seriously, but no, it wants to make a point about how world leaders aren’t uniting us. It wants to talk about what it means to be black in America.
Do I need to remind anyone: this is a show where our 2 ‘heroes’ broke a criminal mastermind out of prison in return for ... intel.
It’s a show that thinks it’s morally justified to have the protagonist throw terrorists out of planes, and then have that exact same character confront someone else about the implications of killing.
And so on, and so on, even to the smallest things.
There’s this scene in the final episode, where a random UN employee just hands Bucky her phone and she’s like: “here’s Karli, she wants to talk to you”. Like, how did she get that phone number? Why didn’t you just write a direct confrontation between Karli and Bucky? They were already in the same building.
There are two things that keep it watchable: Kari Skogland’s direction is very good (loved the first action set piece) and the acting, for the most part, is solid. Erin Kellyman is by far the weakest link, and she lacks any kind of real presence as a terrorist leader. Wyatt Russell, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan do a lot of the heavy lifting, and I can’t wait to see where they take those characters next.
4/10
This series starts very strong.
It just leaves you hanging for a few episodes, indulging in its mystery.
That’s risky, because most people want to be satisfied right away (look no further than the ratings of the first few episodes on this site).
It’s actually quite concerning to see how short people’s attention spans are becoming.
Like, if you couldn’t get through the first few episodes here, don’t even try to watch Lost.
Speaking of Lost, this series reminded me a lot of it, both good and bad.
The acting is superb, especially from Olsen, and it’s great at setting up atmosphere and an intriguing mystery.
Also, Wanda feels more like a fleshed out character now.
However, it just kinda falls apart at the end.
The series tries so hard to intrigue you with questions, that it all leads to a very rushed third act.
The reveals are either predictable ( the hex exists because of Wanda’s grief ) or nonsensical.
Furthermore, there are many things that aren’t answered whatsoever.
It all results in a terrible final episode, where character motivations are thin ( What’s Agatha’s exact motivation? What’s Hayward’s motivation? ) and the show rushes through new developments that aren’t earned, because they haven’t been set-up properly ( Wanda’s new costume, white Vision becoming a substitute for purple Vision ), not to even mention the very shoddy CGI during the fight scenes.
6.5/10
Hot take incoming.
This is technically very impressive.
Visually, it's absolutely breathtaking.
The acting is impressive all across the board.
The make up, holy shit, take notes Walking Dead.
Thematically, it's very solid.
I even think that if you watch it as a documentary series, it's very good.
I acknowledge all of that.
But, this is a narrative series, and I have to judge it as such, meaning that story and characters come first.
And I just don't think it works on that level.
The characters in this are flat and uninteresting, and the story isn't told in a very engaging way.
It's a series that reminded me a lot of the movie Dunkirk, especially in the sense that it's more concerned about depicting the event it's covering accurately rather than engaging you.
Dunkirk in itself isn't a very special story, and Nolan didn't give any of his characters development either.
But here's the difference: Nolan's actually aware of that.
He also knows that messing with time, and making a puzzle box out of something like Dunkirk is a way to make the story more engaging.
Chernobyl doesn't do that, and keeps everything fairly linear, and to be frank, it doesn't do any attempt to engage the viewer at all.
It just assumes you're interested because this is important and recent history.
Unfortunately, that alone doesn't do the trick for me.
5/10
And here it is: the end of the biggest television show of all time.
Seasons 1-4 are (close to) perfect.
Seasons 5-6 are where some of the cracks start to appear, with some filler episodes that don't build a lot of character. However, they're still great seasons nonetheless.
Seasons 7-8 are good, not great. They have certain pacing (rushed developments, teleportation of characters) and writing issues (plot armour, unsatisfying & unearned conclusions etc.). It is especially the level of production that elevates these seasons above average television.
Am I also unsatisfied with how they handled certain characters at the very end? Absolutely.
Do I think, however, that they mostly stuck the landing? Yes.
S1: 9.5/10; S2: 9/10; S3: 9.5/10; S4: 10/10; S5: 8/10; S6: 8/10; S7: 7/10; S8: 7/10
Overall rating: 8.4/10
It's whatever. Even in animation, Marvel Studios will find ways to make things look bland and impersonal. I don't care if the look is faithful to the original show, it should look way more detailed and bold, especially when there's money from Marvel Studios behind this project. Some of the parenting themes and horror influences feel very much targeted towards the audience who grew up with this show, but it's still combined with a simplistic plot, bright colours and a lot of campy, melodramatic lines. It's not fun enough for kids and simultaneously too empty/childish for adults. The balancing of all the different characters is pretty well done (it's not just the Wolverine show like a lot of the movies), but I'm very indifferent about the plot. The entire concept of the sentinels was handled with way more depth and care in a film like Days of Future Past, instead this is way more focussed on character drama, which is not as rewarding. It's watchable with nothing terrible in it, but the people praising it to high heavens need to go to nostalgia rehab. It's just another kids show, pump the breaks.
5/10
Pretty much Stranger Things if its creators were obsessed with Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve instead of Spielberg and Zemeckis. It’s a really cool idea for a mystery/sci-fi melodrama, but also a very demanding show to watch. That’s not a flaw, but you should know going into it that this isn’t the type of show where half watching and half texting will be a rewarding experience. I think there’s just the right amount of handholding, but its puzzlebox quality and plethora of characters don’t make things easier. Still, it’s a lot of fun to watch once you get what it’s doing, with plot twists and character writing being among its major strengths. The emotional peaks that are reached here are quite impressive, though the melodrama can occasionally lead to the use of cheap, overused tropes. There’s also not a single weak link in the cast, which is quite impressive when you have multiple people playing the same character. The directing is pretty amazing, there’s almost a David Fincher-esque quality to how this show builds atmosphere through the constant rain, fog and forest shots, which is often enhanced with its ominous, droning, Villeneuve-esque score. Sometimes the show will just stop and give you these beautiful atmospheric montages (often paired with a sad song), which are among my favourite scenes. They really spared no expense in regards to production, the sets and production value are consistently impressive and don’t have that typical ‘made for streaming’ feel to it. Overall, it’s a pretty amazing, intricate show that’s easily recommended to people who are fans of mature science fiction. Sometimes you have to give a little leeway with the logic, but that’s almost always the case with stories about time travel. You’re bound to run into issues of causality, paradoxality and memory once you have the same people from different timelines interacting with each other, but this show handles it about as well as it could.
S01: 8.5/10
S02: 9/10 (drops most of the cheap tropes; only held back by some bad VFX work)
S03: 8/10 (completely sticks the landing, the new plot device introduced at the end of s02 doesn’t break the show. The VFX continue to be an issue, and this season could’ve benefitted from a few more additional episodes)
Feels like your average january release. It’s heavy on b-movie cartoon vibes, but there’s not one hint of irony or cleverness to make those kitschy aspects more palatable. A lot of anime tropes simply don’t translate very well to live action, with the constant heightened emotional state of every character feeling completely ridiculous here. Add to that the so-so craft/directing, dogshit performances and lack of original story ideas, and you have what I can only assume is the latest obsession of fans from last years RRR. Sometimes I genuinely wonder how we’ve regressed back to some of the worst tropes of 80s blockbuster filmmaking, this is nothing more than poorly done camp for a mass audience.
Much like A New Hope or Avatar: The Last Airbender, if you connect with it at the right age you’ll probably think it’s one of the best things ever made for the rest of your life. The animation, cinematography, action sequences, worldbuilding and score (aside from its hideous opening title song, as well as some other tasteless needle drops) are all truly excellent, technically it’s easily one of my favorite things to come out of pop culture in recent times. However, when it comes to story and character, it honestly doesn’t bring much to the table. It uses all the familiar tropes for this kind of story without putting much of its own spin on it, so the end result is far too predictable for its own good. If you’re already familiar with stuff like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and other YA material, you probably won’t get that much out of this. The characters (as well as their arcs) are all very typical, the story is (again) very plain, nor is there’s not a lot of interesting or challenging subtext. I can see future seasons improving on the story by adding more bells and whistles as its main target audience matures, but right now this is something I’d mostly recommend as a technical achievement.
6/10
Pretty fun, it's essentially Edgar Wright for television. The entire set-up is very reminiscent of Shaun of the Dead, except it plays with spy tropes instead of zombie tropes. Mix in some workplace comedy and good characters, and you have one of the most fun shows of its era. A true product of the 2000s that finds a great balance between accessible and alternative impulses. Nothing particularly boundary pushing or challenging, and the way it portrays Yvonne Strahovski can be a bit juvenile in the earlier parts of the show (it very much knows its target audience), but the smart genre fusion going on here keeps the show from becoming too stale or predictable.
The first two seasons are very nice and easy to like.
The third season is pretty awful.
It feels directionless, episodes are too long, the renewed focus makes it feel like a melodramatic soap opera, lots of misfires with the comedy (e.g. the Zava character doesn’t work at all), some of the acting got too cartoonish; the show took a swing and it turned into something that doesn’t work.
It’s nice that it tried to break down some barriers with the integration of real issues such as homophobia and racism in sports, but some of that stuff feels so tacked on or handled in a way that doesn’t make sense.
It’s well made, I like that they switch up the format just a little bit each episode so that it doesn’t feel like a formulaic cable tv show. The only thing that’s consistent for each episode is the appearance of Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie. She’s fine, I like the gimmick of her character, but not all of the acting choices work for me, and I can’t shake the feeling that the writing tries way too hard to make her this iconic character (which it doesn’t succeed at). Now, because the show is so episodic, the quality between episodes varies quite a bit. Some episodes capture that Columbo fun perfectly, whereas other episodes are hindered by nonsensical structures, dumb/underwritten/annoying characters, corny dialogue (so many one-liners that are straight up groaners) or just a boring set-up. It’s a good thing that the show is heightened and doesn’t take itself seriously, because it absolutely wouldn’t work as a serious drama. Still, would I recommend it? Probably not, just rewatch Sherlock, it’s a lot more entertaining and not as phony.
It’s ok, I don’t understand why they focussed so much on trying to make this a mature drama when the show stars Frank Grillo and Nick Jonas.
They pull it off just fine, but I don’t think it plays to its potential strengths, because I think it’d be much more memorable if it focussed on the physicality instead.
The drama we have here is fine: acting is ok, writing is ok, filmmaking is fine. It never drops the ball, nor is it ever outstanding. They often play it safe, and in many ways the music perfectly encapsulates what the show is: very plain, straightforward garage- and blues rock. Sometimes you're in the mood for that, but I won't rush out to recommend it to anyone either.
It does have a tendency to stretch its own story a little thin; for example there’s no reason for season two to be 20 episodes long.
Does this show deserve a little more love and attention? Probably.
Am I surprised it got lost in the shuffle with the huge amount of high quality television that we got in the 2010s? No.
They’re back like they haven’t missed a beat.
It’s very smartly put together by HBO; they took the two main elements from GoT that everybody liked the most (political maneuvering & dragons) and built a new show around that. A new show that doesn’t feel like its rethreading the past (or should I say future?) in any way. Sure, both shows thematically deal with the nature of power, but these characters feel fresh and different (and I’d argue they’re equally as compelling as some of GoT’s best). I like that it isn’t a big dynasty show focussing on many different families again, but instead just contained to a few main characters. The acting’s top notch, all the main characters are once again perfectly cast. The filmmaking has gotten more cinematic since GoT (absolutely love the dramatic use of light in this show), and the CGI looks beautiful.
I’m not entirely sure what the subtext of this show is going to be. With GoT, the main takeaway to me always felt like it was commenting on the way we deal with climate change (our collective ignorance towards it, often getting caught up in petty, political bs). With this one so far, it feels like the it’s trying to state something about female independence and sexism, but we’ll see if that remains in the foreground for the rest of the show.
A male power fantasy that somehow manages to be even more immature than James Bond.
It’s also quite dated and creepy at points, and this is coming from someone who has no problem with defending Entourage.
Maybe it’s because that show has a little more to offer in general, but I found this to be all surface level and shallow.
I feel like this is what would happen if you'd let Spike Jonze and David Fincher direct a show that was created by Damon Lindelof and Charlie Kaufman.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that most of this was directed by Derek Zoolander.
Absolutely terrific show. Great attention to detail, it looks cinematic from the first to the last frame, perfectly acted (it's a very good showcase for Adam Scott in particular), interesting storyline with great dialogue and layers upon layers of subtext, memorable score and good editing.
My only complaint is that there are a few too many conveniences in it, such as how the book ends up with Mark's innie, or how Mark obtains the card for the security room .
Those small issues aside, I loved it.
Here's hoping it sticks the landing and doesn't turn into another Lost.
9/10
This show is a hidden gem. It’s Straight Outta Compton for east coast hiphop, you’ll probably love it if you’re a fan of Wu-tang, Ghostface, RZA, ODB, etc. If you’re the kind of person that likes to live in a safe, simpleminded bubble where you get offended by black people using the N-word, this show (as well as hiphop at large) isn’t for you. You'd probably know that already going in, so complaining about it is a bit stupid. Great acting (Ashton Sanders’ voice in season 2 excluded, which feels very forced), great filmmaking, occasionally a little confusing because of its many characters, but very satisfying and intriguing to watch. More of this please, it’s inherently more interesting than the recent films about Queen and Elton John. It doesn’t feel like a vanity project at all.
S01:
This probably plays really well if you also like Succession.
These characters are kinda like nails on a chalkboard, but if you can find the satire and commentary beyond that, it’s very enjoyable.
Really good characters, interesting and unpredictable story, very well produced (excellent cinematography and music), it’s fantastic.
8.5/10
S02:
Good new set of characters, love the location of cinematography.
The story doesn’t quite work for me, a lot more melodramatic than season 1 (feels a lot like a soap opera in places), it’s a lot of people fucking each other, cheating on each other, being disloyal, etc.
It squeezes some interesting ideas in there about masculinity, scamming, naivety and power, but whereas season 1 was this beautifully orchestrated car crash showing why contemporary can be such a nightmare, this isn’t anywhere as deep or interesting.
It’s mostly saved by the filmmaking and acting, but a massive step down compared to season 1.
6/10
This show is genius.
It’s brilliantly acted and scripted, though challenging at times.
I’ve known a few friends who gave up during season 2, and I understand why, but if you stick with it, the puzzle pieces will eventually all fall into place.
What’s even more rare (given that it’s a tv show) is that it is filled with truly great filmmaking, and it has its own artistic style, often amplified by perfect editing. The silent episode and one take episode are both high marks of television in my book.
Whenever people are framed in the bottom of the corner for their close up, you instantly know you’re watching Mr Robot.
The music is also instantly recognizable. It’s almost where the show gets a little too David Fincher-y, but it still hits regardless. Just the whole vibe of this show is a thing to behold.
Is it perfect? No, it’s hours of television, so that’s impossible.
If you pick up on what the influences of the show are, you’ll probably find some of the twists in season 1 predictable.
Season 2 can get really abstract and weird, and isn’t as satisfying by itself (though it works perfectly in the overall narrative).
And finally, a few characters don’t really get a satisfying conclusion in season 4.
But overall, it’s incredible, probably my favourite tv show of all time.
So much subtext about the 1%, mental health, our relationship with technology, capitalism and it brilliantly challenges the way you perceive hackers. You’ll think twice about whether they’re a good thing or not.
Wow, I’d never thought Alex Pina could make something this shitty after La Casa de Papel.
Like, I can’t even begin to describe this show, or the plot for that matter.
The actual story is pushed aside for most of the season, which means that the average episode consists of people drinking, partying, fucking, snorting cocaine, boring conversations about fucking, more fucking, annoying melodrama about relationships and people being shitheads for 50 minutes.
Honestly, I dare you to find I character that you don’t despise by the time that the finale comes around.
Now, I could pass most of that off if the show was at least fun, or if it didn’t take itself so seriously, like Entourage for example.
But given the dark things that happen in the show, and also the fact that it has no sense of humour, I’m inclined to believe that they want us to take it seriously.
Normally, I’d give it a 1, but it doesn’t even deserve that honor, as it’s fairly well produced.
2.5/10