Wow, this show has been quite a journey. After 7 seasons, when I look back, it's hard to believe how everything started. What started just as another post apocalyptic TV show featuring delinquent teenagers, became one of the most well written and developed shows I ever seen!
Season one is just good. Nothing extraordinary. It's a very simple plot. Season two started with a very fair plot twist and by the end of 2nd season I was already in complete awe to this show. When season 3 came, the mythology of the show started to pave its path. And what a mythology! Everything started to get so deep and extraordinary that you didn't even remember that in season one they were just reckless young ones. From season 3 on, it just keep getting better and better, to the point that you actually realize how everything, since the Pilot, was already predetermined to happen. It comes a moment that you just applaud how much this show is extraordinary in what comes to connect all the plots. (For instance, something that you really didn't understand in season one and thought it was unnecessary, drops your chin when it reveals to be something really deep in season 5. And that happens a lot. And that's makes this show really worth watch it). Even when "nonsense" stuff start to happen on the show somewhere along season 6, you are so deeply involved in everything that you already realize that those "nonsenses" are not that crazy after all. Because if you are really paying attention to the show since the very beginning, you'll already see it coming and it will not seem that all of that just came out of nowhere Characters development is another achievement of this show. They do it in such a perfect way that you really get involved with those characters along the show.
At time I am writing this comment, there's only four episodes left until the series finale, and this final season already shown itself to be the culmination of a story that clearly has been planned for a long time. If you're reading this comment ten years since the show ended and is asking yourself if it's worth it. The answer is YES. Go watch The 100. It's one of my favorite shows of all times and eras. And I didn't even saw the finale. But I know that will wrap up this amazing journey in the best possible way.
May We Meet Again.
What in the actual f*ck.
I'm a reasonable man, I realize I've been crapping on D&D even more than usual this season but I really do have to give them props for doing exactly what they set out to do. They hoped to subvert our expectations and they did just wonderfully in that regards.
We expected all of that buildup over the years to actually amount to something that at the very least passes for a presentable series finale but instead, we got an incoherent, steaming pile of shit. Expectations subverted!
We expected all of that character development to actually result in a beautiful pay-off that respects the journey of self-discovery each and every one of our beloved characters went through to get to where they are now but instead, we got a painful, disrespectful cycle of character regression. Expectations subverted!
We expected the final season of this show to keep us at the edge of our seats with thrilling writing that didn't subvert our expectations for the sake of subverting our expectations via low-quality shock value-seeking writing, but to introduce plot twists that make sense within the overall narrative of the story but instead, we got CW-level predictable, cringe material. Expectations subverted!
I get it. I really do. GRRM let them down by not getting the books ready in time and so they had to improvise away from his influence, but this? This? For a long while, Game of Thrones lived up to the slogan of its parent network, it wasn't just TV, it was something different, something unique and now to have to see it come to this... it's nothing short of disappointing.
On the bright side though, at least this episode didn't suck completely. The acting, score and cinematography were all on point, so I guess it's nice that I didn't walk out of it having appreciated absolutely nothing about it.
So why do I even bother anymore? I honestly could not tell you, though it's probably a mixture of masochism and a faint sliver of hope that they won't flush our collective investment into this series down the drain by the end of it, just one more episode dammit.
And here I thought the last episode was terrific. This was a near-flawless ribbon on the top of so many different arcs. And it's only the season's midway point.
Cotyar goes down a hero by destroying an infected Agatha King (taking "that asshole" Nguyen with him), Errinwright gets double-teamed by Sorrento and Anna and finally locked away, Mao is captured by Jim and forcibly knelt before Avasarala, Prax finally finds his daughter Mei, safe and sound, and Bobbie confronts a hybrid and finally gets over her PTSD of being defeated by one on Ganymede. Even Jim and Naomi made up and got back together after a risky tip of their hand to Fred Johnson paid off. And then a fucking jellyfish swam out of Venus' atmosphere... It's almost too much to process right away.
So much got packed into this hour yet it all flowed perfectly from one plot line to the other, interweaving where it made sense, and pushing the whole narrative forward in a believable way. This is how you make hard scifi.
The SyFy Channel is positively stupid for giving up on this exceptional piece of television. They really should be forced to change their network's name on account of it deliberately creating confusion for viewers.
This is easily the worst season of this show. This is my favourite show, and this season betrays everything that came before it. Seasons 1-3 were absolutely fantastic pieces of television, season 4 was excellent in a different way, and season 5 was still quite good in its own way, even though it was most certainly a different show. Season 6 is a different show yet again, and it is not just because Frank is no longer a character on the show.
The writing is bad and the pacing is bad. There is no more believability like there was in seasons 1-4. At least the acting is still top-notch (that's the one saving grace the show has). At the start of the season, I felt like I was watching some sort of mystery show rather than a political drama.
Doug was the best thing about this season. I thought that Claire would have been, as she has always been arguably the best part of the show, however, this season just has her going completely out of character. There are some good flashback scenes to her childhood, and those had me intrigued, but unfortunately they were never really followed up on.
Everything that worked this season was never really picked up on.
I must say, although my review of this season is mostly negative, I do say all of this in relation to House of Cards as a whole. I believe that if I am looking at this season as a stand-alone season of television, it most certainly isn't terrible, but rather it's actually quite entertaining and enjoyable. The issue comes when you step back and realise that this okay season of television is following on from 5 of the best seasons of television ever made.
This is a huge course correction that practically negates TLJ. It has its moments, and given what the director-writer had to work with, it's understandable how it ends with such a feeble whimper. This isn't a good film and shouldn't be mistaken for one. TROS is a very disjointed, clearly rushed, derivative experience, that shows its editorial seams, packed with callbacks to all the good things the original trilogy had to offer in order to make you up for it. The visual effects are quite good in most places (nothing stunning or eye opening), but some in the third act are not really at par with the rest of the movie. The plot could be written up with a crayon in a napkin, and I wouldn't be amazed if that was the case, as this isn't Citizen Kane. The amount of loose ends and plot holes this film has, are way too many to me. This is a $300 million plus film (without accounting for marketing, re-shoots and extra CGI) and yet, it doesn't feel as good on the screen as Infinity War or End Game, (very good films made by the same Disney company). After leaving the theater, I was not full of hope, sad or willing to buy another ticket or even willing to watch this movie ever again. I felt nothing but sorry for George Lucas and couldn't care any less about what happens to Ben, Finn, Poe and Rey. The problem with this film when compared with any of the original trilogy is that those felt timeless (grounded on mythical archetypes, Japanese samurai films, Westerns, Flash Gordon serials and the hero's journey) and this plot will look very dated by next year, I'm sure of it. Luke Skywalker took 5 years to master the arts of the Jedi, having two Jedi masters to introduce him to its philosophy. Rey has some old books and voices in his head to kinda learn in months a lot of fantastic new Jedi powers that made no sense. No matter how much it makes back at the box office, it will lose in long-term repeated viewings (one time is enough for me), Blu-ray and DVD sales, and of course, merchandise. It is a good thing we have The Mandalorian to keep the franchise in life support until the inevitable reboot comes along in 5 years. Edit: Forgot to mention that there were only 9 people on the first IMAX showing of TROS on this movie theater (this is a 3.5 million people city). Back in 2015, all the showings were packed for TFA the first 4 days.
This was, for me, the best show of the year so far. It is for Netflix this year what Stranger Things was for last year. A real surprise, far better than it looks. I watched the special, and I don't usually do that. I picked up the book and started reading it, and young adult fiction isn't a genre I usually look at. Hollywood hasn't cast it in a very nice light with things like Twilight; even less cringey films like Divergent and The Maze Runner give the YA genre a two-dimensional feel, a feel of shallowness that is easy to take in but doesn't really get inside your head much. Just a one-and-done kind of thing. And this isn't that. It's so much better. I went in thinking this was a show for middle and high school kids, and it really isn't. Especially after the 9th and 12th episodes. Not to mention the finale. Spoilers follow.
After watching — I finished it just 24 hours ago — I went back and forth on whether the suicide was justified or not. Actually for a while I thought they might pull a twist ending and reveal that she didn't actually go through with it, but made it look like she did to raise awareness. There was a program that ran in high schools in Northern California (where this takes place) where they had a guy dressed up like the Grim Reaper take the popular jocks out of school. They were put up in a resort while the rest of the school was told they died. And then they put on this play where they were killed by drunk driving. It sounds silly now, but it was serious then. And it happened at my school (Santa Rosa, Montgomery High, Class of 1998) and I was smart enough to see that it was fiction, but it still young enough for it to affect me. (Sure enough, never drank and drove. Actually don't drink anymore, so I can drive those who can't.) So I thought this series might be doing that, and that they could, and still be impactful. Spoiler: [spoiler]It's not, and the suicide is shown in the finale.[/spoiler]
As for justifications, that's harder. It's important to note here that nobody is perfect, including the adults. It's also important to note that nobody is purely good or evil. Even the one character everyone hates by the end ([spoiler]Bryce{/spoiler]), probably has some good in him. It's just outside the scope of this show to humanize him. We can guess. [spoiler]He was rich, and lived a life free of consequences. His parents were never around, and he was able to buy beer underage because he was a successful athlete and town hero. He literally stated that there was nothing wrong with raping girls. And he believed it because he had never been denied anything.[/spoiler] The big problem I have with the suicide is not that the events leading up to it did or didn't justify suicide. It's that she spent hours calmly laying out everything that was wrong, in a cool and methodical way, on those tapes, after making the decision, and yet she still did it. The planning of the tapes, the recording, setting up distribution, [spoiler]getting Tony to manage the backups and watching people,[/spoiler], I think she could have backed down. I think she was smart enough to by that point and could have gotten help. No tapes, no planning? Sure. Impulse decision. After all that, though? I don't really see it.
I'd also like to get into the school counselor, Mr Porter. School counselors are psychologists only in the same sense that security guards are police officers, i.e. they're not. You could say they're failed psychologists, and maybe some are, but they may not all be. He wasn't an exceptionally bad one. He might have even been above average. I think a big difference between school counselors and psychologists are that school counselors work for the school. They aren't truly advocates for the individuals they try to help. I think he needed to go the extra mile and coach her, and tell her that she needs to declare [spoiler]that she was raped, and that she said no, and that she tried to make him stop, even if she really didn't exactly. There was no deception on her part, or seduction, the guy had raped before, and in her presence no less, and she clearly did not want to have sex, and he knew it[/spoiler]. Yes, I think he should have coached her to embellish the truth a little for the greater good, for the sake of the next victim. Would it have been dishonest? I don't think so. No more spoilers.
But I'm getting off-track. Was it a good series? In no uncertain terms, yes it was. You should absolutely watch it, and then you absolutely should reach out to a niece or a nephew or the child of a family friend and let them know that you are there for them. It doesn't really help as much coming from parents, because parents are always judging. They kind of have to. Kids need an external resource they can count on. Someone they trust won't look down on them because they tried drugs or experimented with sex. Someone who won't add to their problems. Someone who generally makes them feel better when they're down. Even popular kids need it, but the nerds, the emo kids, the losers, those kids need it especially because they have such little support from their peers. And yes it's a bit rude to use those labels, but they exist, those kids exist, and we can't let them slip through the cracks. And one photo, one tweet, one rumor can make the most popular kid in school join those unfortunate groups. And then that kid can go on fooling their parents into thinking they're still on top of the social ladder, when inside they're dying, and we see that in the show with one of the characters.
Ok, that's going to be a hard one to review.
Not because it's bad or just ok, not at all. As the little "10" in the top-left shows, I've give this show the best possible score.
No, the difficulty is in finding the right words that will explain WHY this tv show deserve such a number.
Before getting into it, I must say that I've watched every episodes, including the special where the actors and crew explain how and why they did this show (you should watch it). And I have not read the book.
As I want this review to be read by as much people as possible, I will not give any spoiler. So feel free to continue reading !
First, the actors, and mainly the three main characters for me, meaning Dylan Minnette (Clay), Katherine Langford (Hannah) and Kate Walsh (Olivia, Hannah's mom). Their work is just astonishing.
Second, the pacing. The show find the right balance between content and emptiness. Seems weird writing this. But we're dealing with a suicide, with depression, and the void it creates is one of the hardest thing to translate and the producers found a way to make you feel it at your core.
Which explains my third point : this show can be overwhelming. 13 episodes that you want to watch, but you also dread watching. There is, in each of those episodes and even more in some of them, a psychological pressure that can almost be too much to bear.
Fourth, thriller. 13 reasons why. 13 reasons you want to know. 13 reasons that you discover slowly, methodically, but 13 reasons that are sometimes implied a bit before they're revealed. It creates a thrill, that you're on the verge of understanding or at least zeroing on what really when on.
Fifth, the candor of this show. I have never watched a a show that committed to being true, to ring true to how teenagers think and feel and live. Some people will think that things aren't really like that, that they can't be and it's just so that there is a story. I was a teenager not so long ago, and I found so many truths in this show that it even felt a bit awkward. That this character could have been me. Or this one.
When TV produces so many "teenage" shows that just transform teens into adults, or teens into dumb versions of humans, watching this felt surreal. Like someone finally understood what it meant. What the struggles were and how to show them in their purest form.
Sixth and last one, Suicide. No one wants to talk about it. Most TV shows that depicts one, uses it as a plot excuse. A way to spice things up.
This one does not. This is the first thing you learn when watching. You start with the suicide and then you try to explain what when on in Hannah's life, in her head, that made her do this. And the show is clear, you can't explain suicide. You can't rationalize it. But you can try to understand the actions and thoughts that lead to it. To try and prevent that for ever happening again.
And the show is exceptional at that. Yes it depicts all the elements that lead to a suicide, but by showing them, you also teach people how to recognize signs that could point you to a person in distress. And it also shows that our actions have consequences, may those actions seems trivial at first. And to those that are in distress it also shows that there always are people caring for you. You may not see it, they may not show it, but there are there and you need to have the strength to at least reach out to them. The will help you. And if this seems too much for you, there are free hotlines that you can call at any time to at least talk. Because talking is healing.
I could continue and expand this list much more, but I'll stop there.
Just go watch it. Take a month of Netflix, you won't regret it.
Spider-Man : No Way Home
The movie is objectively wonderful for those who love superhero movies and Marvel movies. Fantastic special effects (it was to be expected from a company like the MCU), the crossover between the 3 spiderman, Octopus and Goblin (played by the fantastic William Dafoe) are spectacular, the ending with a logical sense, the death of the aunt etc.
But personally, I didn't find it that good for two reasons mainly :
1) I am not a lover of superhero movies.
2) Too much hype was created by the rumors about Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's appearances, and this ruined the surprise of seeing them in the movie. Can you imagine if these rumors would have never appeared in the various newspapers, how it would have been much nicer to see the 2 Spider-Man of the other universes appearing like that, from that portal? It would have been fantastic, it would surely be among the greatest twists of the Marvel Universe.... But unfortunately it was not so.
Summing up, the movie is wonderful for lovers of marvel movies, probably one of the best ever created by the MCU, but subjectively, the whole thing was ruined by the newspapers and the various rumors. .I still found it to be a cute and enjoyable movie.
6/10
Over the last two weeks I re-watched all 8 previous Spider-Man films in preparation for this one. That's Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire's trilogy, Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 with Andrew Garfield, Homecoming/Far From Home with Tom Holland, and finally Into the Spider-Verse. It was quite the marathon and having just gotten out of the theater from seeing No Way Home I can now confidently say that it was totally worth it. However, I will note that Into the Spider-Verse was not directly referenced, with only a very minor line of dialogue that could be considered an indirect shoutout, so if you're also considering going back to do some re-watching you can probably skip that one (although it's still fantastic and well worth a watch). As one final side note, for the last five or so years I have gone out of my way to avoid trailers. I think this always results in a better film going experience, but in this case I think it was a particularly beneficial decision, as I was genuinely surprised by characters/scenes that were undoubtedly spoiled in the trailers.
So... No Way Home. This is kind of a tough movie to rate because it is very much a mixed bag. It hits some home runs in certain areas, but there are some elements that fail to live up to the strength of Homecoming and Far From Home.
THE BAD: The instigating event with Dr. Strange (memory erase/obliviate spell) is a tonally weird scene. What ultimately turns into a crucial/deadly mistake is played as an extended joke, which was a bit off putting. In general, the humor has more misses than the previous films. Still plenty of hits, but just not quite as high of a percentage. Some of the emotional beats and dialogue feel more ham-fisted than I'd like. The pacing felt a bit off, with numerous scenes that seemed to drag unnecessarily. Some of that probably has to do with the need to establish a lot of new (or rather old) characters, which leads to lots of extended dialogue sequences. I feel like an extra action sequence or at least some trimming here and there could have been beneficial. Finally, I was very disappointed/frustrated with the post-credits scene. In fact, to even call it a post-credits scene is disingenuous. It was literally a trailer for the next MCU movie, which is not how post-credits scenes have typically been used and I definitely prefer them to be self-contained scenes rather than montages/clips from a future film (especially considering the fact that I avoid trailers).
THE GOOD: I recently wrote a review praising Into the Spider-Verse for successfully bringing the interdimensional antics of comic book storytelling to the big screen, so when this film attempts that same premise in live action, without the benefits and limitless possibilities of animated storytelling, it is frankly even more ambitious/impressive. And, despite all of my critiques, this film succeeds in that attempt. This is peak fan service. The callbacks. The cameos. The costumes. It's all there, and as an audience member all I could do is smile. The plot isn't anything to write home about, but it gets the job done in terms of setting up all of the types of big payoff moments that we were all hoping for. The highlights for me (all of which were big surprises) were definitely Charlie Cox's return as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, the reveal of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield's dive to save MJ, giving him a chance to prevent a fellow Peter Parker from experiencing the same loss he did.
All things considered, this is a must watch for any Marvel/Spider-Man fan, and a solid enough film on its own merits, although perhaps not quite as well rounded as Tom Holland's previous two outings as the webslinger.
After listening from TAPE 01 SIDE A to TAPE 13 SIDE A in just two nights this is what I think about "13 REASONS WHY":
First of all I have to recognize I didn't know about the book until I started watching "13 REASONS WHY", I haven't read it yet and maybe never will, probably because TV Series' production, photography, postproduction, cast, acting, story, rhythm and overall quality it is excellent and easily deserves a rating between a 9.7 and 10, I would have given it a 10, but I reserve that specific number for those rare gems that can't be measured by any standard because they simply don't fit in any scale, the rare masterpieces. Yes, those exactly, the ones you can only wonder how come they became and not why or how they did it because it's beyond your comprehension and you somehow now will transcend its time to become a classic. So unless they enable the 10 MasterPiece rating, it will have to suffice a 9 for the time being. Maybe I'll change my mind later or not, I don't know yet.
I think the TV adaptation (or the original novel) isn't really critique to the values of the [post]milenial average American teenager, the High School System or even bullying itself. But it's rather a quite more profound harsh critique to "The Post Milenial Egotistic and Hypocritical Society" where we all live, at least, in the western world. A Society whose values are taught to most kids by example, carrying them unconsciously to their teenage years and, many, to their adulthood where they're passed to the next generation.
It uses a group of High School Students, "13 REASONS WHY" as an analogy. All to make us, the adults, look in the mirror, rethink about our Individual Accountability and Responsibility for our acts or lack of thereof, how we intentionally misuse the concept "Society" (the Group) as an easy excuse, or way out from Individual Accountability and Responsibility out of pure egotism –selfishness (a Group with "N REASONS WHY").
As I said is more to this story that what meets the eye, the author is critiquing Society as a Whole from a moral standpoint to whoever was willing or able to see beyond the analogy he chose to depict it:
That is why after TAPE 13 SIDE A, there isn't anything meaningful left to tell. It's meaningless what they did or didn't do to anyone. You can imagine whatever you prefer, because no matter you come up the conclusion is always the same. These "13 REASONS WHY" where hers, what they did or didn't is history that can't be changed, so Hannah isn't coming back.
To all those thinking there will be a second season (or mini season), if Netflix continues respecting the original artist work and is wise enough to pull at the top, it won't ever be another.
Remember what Hannah explained on the TAPES about "The Butterfly Effect", our actions, given the adequate circumstances, could put in motion a chain of events whose consequences we would not be able to foresee, and later on she talks about that those tapes could create its own butterfly effect. What you see as the series avances and clearly in Episode 13 - TAPE 13 SIDE A is how that butterfly effect is working exacerbating what Hannah, not the victim, but the person corresponsable for the pain of others, had done actions when she was alive that have consequences and after she was gone with her detailed plan for the 13 TAPES.
Near the end in TAPE 13 SIDE A, even though he had been subtlety suggesting it throughout most of the 13 TAPES, the writer by focusing Hannah actions and probable consequences tries to clearly shows how nobody is perfect, not even Hannah. Perfection is at what we should aim but it's almost impossible, we are simply imperfect human not Gods, the only think that we are asked is to really try as hard as we can. The author puts on the table once again the need to understand and assimilate that we are responsible for our actions and be courageous enough to accept that with responsibility comes accountability and not just to ourselves but to others too.
P.S.
I agree with the message of the author, but I'm afraid I have an even darker view of humanity. I have been wondering what could probably be the worst course of action that anyone can take, but specifically humanity as a whole, I have reached the conclusion that it would be "to simply start doing nothing about almost everything if it's not involves fun".
I believe that it can not be considered an out of this world thought, specially in the light on whose hands it's the atomic football nowadays and the fact that no one did anything to prevent it when it was still possible.
I would bet hedonism together with egotism have already made to the top spots in the current list of The Seven Capital Sins. It all probably started with the fall of Berlin Wall, in the last decade of the XX century and have continued to gain momentum during the first the seventeen years of XXI century, a trend which doesn't seems its going to reverse or stop anytime soon.
But if the time comes, to which I'm look forward, to bury this "malade" which affects everyone: the old, the middle age, the young, etc…
I think its epitaph should read like this: "Here lies: I don't give a fuck about you or anything for that matter, and unless it involves alcohol, drugs, chicks, guys and/or loud music, I ain't going so don't bother me with any of your shit. We kindly ask you to respect his wishes and not bother him with any shit whatsoever unless his strict requirements are meet."
