The best growth of any character in the entire story, period. Amazing. As sad as it is he was destined to be alone, he always did have glorious purpose.
Holy fuck. I have goosebumps. Might be the best episode of TV this year. Fucking amazing. Honestly, I can't blame Tom for what he did, he's taken so much shit from everyone, including his own wife.
Farewell Succession, there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll be remembered as one of the greatest TV shows of the modern era.
"Greg, do not put any more lemon water or wasabi in his eyes!"
"The amazing trio of fucked up brothers". For a moment, a very brief moment, I believed that they were really going to unite to "save" the company, but I realized that they would not last and never did. perpetuating these power games.
To Shiv and Roman with their affectionate moment realized that they are broken and Ken, unfortunately, was unable to realize that.
I felt like I was seeing my family come together and I had a huge blow to see that fight - especially with Kendall like that, falling off the building without having thrown himself.
And in the end, the succession went to the most unpredictable, but clear that it could and, perhaps, should be him. Tom finally got the Empire of the Roys without being a Roy.
End of season 10/10 Thank you, HBO.
The whole bomb sequence was great. Dying especially at "Okay, sounds like we were successful. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
This episode was amazing. But why is this listed as a special?
Well that was a complete waste of time. Nothing happens after episode 5. They should’ve ended the season at episode 5
If they can hack into 3 automated cars to kill Saul, TF they doing when he's on an airplane, just malfunction some microcontrollers on the plane and crash it.
Also if the probe is flying at 80km/s as they show after the 3rd blast, the velocity is not increasing, hence there is no acceleration hence no force acting hence no stress in the joints, how TF did it snap.
Besides all of this, if their proton computer can mess up results of a particular accelerator, and they fear humans, just set off the abundant nuclear weapons we have. problem solved. why the elaborate plan of taking down humanity with taking down science.
Strong start, and I say that acknowledging that Asimovian truism is obvs not their goal. I legit love where they’re taking the whole “prophecy” narrative, since that aspect of the OG story would be hard to convey as a TV show..
Making it a battle of rebellious, savant-tier genius vs a technologically elite Empire of forgotten dreams—whose ruler is a clone controlled by an actual robot—really makes it feel relevant to our experience: moneyed royalty building an algorithmically-powered, AI driven—chatGPT, Google Bard, etc)—but potentially distopian future… Pretty excellent.
Just as brutal as the game, well done. Only downside is it felt short and rushed. Would have been nice for a little more time in the hospital with strategy from Joel instead of him going all terminator.
As someone "smart" Saul is easily the dumbest person on the show. Why did they write him like this?
Am I crazy or did some of the dialogue audio get messed up in this episode? Almost like something very slightly muffling the audio of Jin and the shooter.
That might’ve been one of the best pieces of storytelling the MCU has ever told. The allegory on determinism weaved in with the ought/is argument within the frame of individual wants and purpose-driven choice… As a season the first as a whole is still better, but this isn’t just the best episode of the series - but up there with the best moments of TV in recent memory.
Not to mention the implications for what this poses on the future Kang arcs and Renslayer’s future as a seemingly(? vaguely left to interpretation) foil of larger importance. Watching the relatively well done caricature that was Loki upon initial introduction into deeply multilayered literal time god/jailer (again beautifully vague) of the multiverse over a decade later was so well written. I think I’m even still absorbing some of what I just saw.
Balancing comedy, brevity and existentialism - all while maintaining impeccable pace. 10/10, hats off to everyone involved.
Very good start, getting you hooked in the narrative. I don’t think splitting the book character Wang Miao into 5 characters is a big problem. Although I fear that the oxford 5 might stay a little flat as characters.
Be careful of claiming you are burdened with glorious purpose... You just may end up being so. What a great character arc. Series stands so far above much of the rest of the drek Marvel/Disney is churning out.
Would have been perfect, if it wasn't for breakneck pacing. Bertholdt's dream and Annie's meeting suffered the most.
I don't understand why they skipped Annie's part in taking the Wall... Different viewpoint should have brought additional info on the table. I mean it's not important, they still show Colossal Titan exhausted and on it knees nice juxtaposition to the iconic moment and also explanation for weird footprints from season 1 and Dina walking by thanks Annie It just odd and felt more impactful in the manga.
If anyone interested in the panels with Annie's part in the plan:
https://official-complete-2.eorzea.us/manga/Shingeki-No-Kyojin/0096-016.png
https://official-complete-2.eorzea.us/manga/Shingeki-No-Kyojin/0096-017.png
https://official-complete-2.eorzea.us/manga/Shingeki-No-Kyojin/0096-018.png
https://official-complete-2.eorzea.us/manga/Shingeki-No-Kyojin/0096-019.png
https://official-complete-2.eorzea.us/manga/Shingeki-No-Kyojin/0096-020.png
https://official-complete-2.eorzea.us/manga/Shingeki-No-Kyojin/0096-021.png
Also kinda surprised that they didn't emphasized on trio first and changed focus to warriors here:
https://official-complete-2.eorzea.us/manga/Shingeki-No-Kyojin/0096-033.png
But oh well. At least Mappa didn't f**ed up anything important, yet. Unlike the whole Uprising Arc... so I'm happy as hell. Great episode.
After reading the book, I did believe that its component parts would be very difficult to adapt to the screen. My fears were that it would be mangled in the same fashion as the dreadful mess that is 'Foundation'.
I have also watched the first episode of the 2023 Chinese 'Three Body'. That has problems. It is terribly slow-paced; repetitious and, on Prime Video, fairly poor video quality & indifferent subtitle translation. It did seem to be sticking to the plot of the book, but glacially. After seeing this version, I won't be going back..
The opening scenes are shockingly graphic. Mao's 'Cultural Revolution' in the mid-1960s was brutal. Well done to the writers for starting with this part of the story.
As an aside, why do so many of the characters smoke? In the scenes set in the 1960s, fair enough, but those in 2024?
Anyway, many of my misgivings were allayed. The story elements are coming together by the end of this opener and I look forward to the rest.
Monologues. That should be Mike Flanagan's middle name: Mike Monologue Flanagan.
So much of his work consists of one person talking to someone else in some grandiose monologue that drags on a bit longer than I wish it would. It becomes it's most egregious when those monologues aren't in line with the theme of the show or when they talk for three minutes when they could get the same message out in thirty seconds.
It's exhausting. I zone out so quickly.
So is it just me or is the Doctor's mother CLEARLY a younger actress made to look old. It's as obvious as 'old' Pruitt clearly being Hamish Linklater last ep.
They're also pulling the pin on all this very early. Esp having Riley be attacked as well.
My end game prediction is that his dream is a prophecy of him sitting waiting for the sun as it will kill him. And I thought that even before he got bit. Was expecting it much later.
I hope it all isn't this predictable. Really wanted to be creeped out not watch an average vampire tale.
I always loved the monologues in Hill House and Bly Manor but I find myself so bored in this one!
Na who cares about murder and shit, but shouting at sally like that is an absolute no
