Very very good finale. I really enjoyed Lyra and Asriel's scenes together. He is a fascinating character with so many sides to him. It's obvious that he cares about Lyra, but his mission takes precedence over everything, even his daughter or his morals - we could see he took no pleasure in sacrificing Roger, but he didn't hesitate to do it because he feels he has a duty to free all of humanity from enslavement. Having read the books, I obviously knew the tragic ending was coming, but it still hit me really hard. Roger was a sweet cinnamon roll and he deserved better. His death was absolutely devastating, maybe even more than in the book, since Lyra got SO CLOSE to him that she could hold his hand. My poor babies :( And on Will's side of things, he's finally found the opening! I have to say, I love the foreshadowing with the cat that showed him the way. Now that we're onto The Subtle Knife, things are gonna get crazy. Can't wait.
As a long-time fan of the books, I find a whole lot to like about this series. The casting is for the most part excellent, especially Ruth Wilson, who was born to play Marisa Coulter, and James McAvoy, who brings a lot of nuance and depth to Lord Asriel. I was so looking forward to finally seeing them interact and their chemistry is amazing. I would really love to see a miniseries centered around these two when they first met and everything that happened leading up to Lyra's birth. Dafne Keen somehow manages to look like both of her on-screen parents (I genuinely applaud the casting director) and I think she's done a good job with her portrayal of Lyra. Her acting can be a bit hit-and-miss at times, but when she's on, she's pretty amazing. I also like the actors who portray Lord Boreal and Will. And speaking of Will, I don't mind the fact that the series decided to introduce him in season 1. I actually like it because I remember how jarring it was for me when he popped up out of nowhere in the second book. I was annoyed because it felt like he was interrupting Lyra's story. The show has done a good job of making us care about him just as much as we care about Lyra, telling us right out of the gate that this story has two protagonists from parallel worlds whose fates are intertwined and who will inevitably meet at some point. Very good choice on the showrunners' part. The visuals and cinematography are beautiful, the music is excellent (the opening credits slay me every time) and it's for the most part a very faithful adaptation of the source material.
Not everything is perfect, though. The biggest problem I have with the series is that it severely undermines the relationship between humans and daemons. There is literally nothing stronger in Lyra's world than that bond. Seeing someone without a daemon is so viscerally terrifying that it's like seeing someone without a head. Yet in the series we constantly see people without daemons. Yes, yes budgetary restrictions and all that, but you know what? Maybe that's a controversial opinion, but if you don't have enough money to accurately represent one of the key world-building features of the story, then perhaps you shouldn't be adapting said story in the first place. Can't believe I'm saying this, but even the movie, which is terrible in many ways, managed to portray it better, at least between Lyra and Pan. I don't think I'll ever forgive the show for the way Lyra just ignored Pan after they were almost separated at Bolvangar and ran towards Marisa instead of immediately grabbing her freaking soul, her dearest companion, from that cage. Like I said, even in the movie Lyra would cuddle Pan whenever something dangerous happened. Meanwhile on the show I can count on one hand how many times Lyra touched her daemon over the course of 8 episodes. Again, I understand that they have budgetary restrictions, but Lyra and Pan's relationship is probably the most important dynamic in the books and it just doesn't feel that way in the series. Another thing I don't like - and I realize that in the grand scheme of things it's really not that important - is that they changed Kaisa from a goose to a gyrfalcon. I know they did it because a talking goose looked bad and cartoonish and they felt they couldn't make it work, but we've seen many characters with raptor daemons (Ma Costa and Tony, for example). Kaisa being a goose was unusual, unique, and changing that fundamentally changes who Serafina is as a person. To me, daemons are probably one of the greatest concepts ever invented in literature. They're endlessly fascinating. So the way they're treated on the show is just bitterly disappointing.
Okay, deep breath, rant over.
Still looking forward to season 2. And in the meantime, if anyone is interested in daemons as much as I am, I recommend this quiz: https://app.ex.co/stories/laurenb90/what-is-your-daemon. This is not a self promo or anything (as if I could ever make something this in-depth), but I think it's pretty cool and the results can be pretty damn accurate. This quiz gives you one of the 34 possible animal groups. In the description of that group, there is a link to a second quiz that gives you a specific species or breed within that group. Have fun.
(Mine is an opossum. And I love him.)
Yeah, a lot of shows have done it. I know of three, scrubs, raising hope and 30 Rock, and I loved all of them. It’s always a joy (in my opinion), even though it is robbing us of story-content (which season two has little to offer anyway). But a musical is a different medium and it’s legit to focus on sound and show instead of deep, well written stories. That is no excuse for the rest of the snoozefest of episodes, but episode 9 is great fun and there are some real talents in the show with great voices.
So, even if this was no real Star Trek episode, only a big stage, this was one of the few episodes from season 2 that I actually enjoyed. It was a fun standalone episode, again contrasting hard with the previous one.
And since SNW feels more like Star Trek than anything that was done in the last couple years with the franchise, I trust that they will find the sweet spot in season 3.
I guess the „exploration of strange new worlds“ is taking place not in space, but in how far you can take a Star Trek episode, and how different each week can be. While season 2 mostly failed in telling good stories, they made each episode totally different, which is great. Now hire some good science fiction writers, maybe from the Orville team, a we’re golden.
There's no logic in the primitive nostalgic pessimism that a lot of people seem to have. All cinematographical material have their flaws and we can't expect all producers, directors and editors to have the perfect perception for the source material as the older fans. This series has it's ups and downs and surely inconsistencies, but just wanting to see everything die out because it can't please the sense of what the old shows brought is pure pessimism (haters gonna hate).
This show on it's own is doing a much better job than a lot of movies and shows (also those outside the ST universe). Mind the flaws this is doing much better than anything we got for a long time. So please don't try to kill everything that can never succeed something branded in your minds as perfection. And I would remind you if you watch the old shows again (and the same goes for movies and videogames) you'll be met with grievance that what is engraved in your mind as perfection might not look that amazing anymore in the present.
Times change; this evolution of the ST universe is not half that bad. It does a much better job than the meager movies we got the last years. Please give this some slack and stop trying to kill everything. This show has amazing potential if we give them constructive (and not destructive) feedback on how they can improve and pave the way for finally something that can bloom into a 8+ season show with actual bonds we can build with characters, like in the old days.
The conclusion to the cliffhanger could not have been a surprise as a lot of us were already suspecting the parallel universe theory. And at least it explains certain things people were negative about. Now there are different things to be negative about and guess what - it´s OK. Everybody is entitled to his own opinion. Sure this is different and yes it is not TNG or DS9 or even VOY like. So what ? You don´t like it ? Fine - don´t watch.
I like where this is going and I am saying this as a decade long fan of Star Trek. Of course now they have to be aware with their writing a bit more because there are already established facts in place of the Mirror Universe. One thing I don´t like was how easy Burnham fell into her role and the guilt stricken face after killing that guy did not convince me. Oh, yes one thing I definately don´t like is all the sex. It does nothing for the story and seems to be just there to be there. But I for one am looking forward to what will developing out of this more than I was before the break.
Remember Star Trek has always been about tolerance.
That season ending though.
This series was a delight binge watch, it's not an earth shattering artistic masterwork light but it's sweet, cute, touching, a bit crude and lewd, and sometimes, heartwarming. A bit predictable, but not enough to put me off it. It's Misfits but with a more lighthearted tone. I feel like it was very good, but also missing some thing. It could have been done better.
What I didn't like:
For me, the whole Kash vigilante side story was forced, something just didn't click and was neither funny nor interesting. I'm glad Carrie broke it off with Kash, he was way to childish and had no ambition. I also cringed hard at the Jizzlord nickname. The rest of show is decent/watchable.
My other issue is that the whole premise of the show isn't addressed in the final. I know it's so they can have a Season 2, but I felt a little disappointed by the final episode.
There are some production issues with the show. The special effects are really bad. It’s not a huge issue, especially because the show has a goofy tone to begin with, but you'll be very aware you’re watching a low-budget show.
The sound mixing is also really bad; as much as I liked the soundtrack, I felt it was poorly balanced for volume. The music is way louder than the dialog, so you end up having to constantly fiddle with the volume unless you want extremely loud music blasting you every five minutes.
It’s very watchable and I do recommend that you at least check out the first episode.
Well that was a fun season finale. D'Arcy has the most standout moment in my opinion. When she finds out Harry is an Alien and this is the big lie that Asta has been keeping from her. She actually acknowledges that this is a big lie and it's very realistic for Asta to lie to her about it. It was extremely satisfying to see this for once even if her completely ignoring the "dinosaur", to assure her friend she gets it is hilariously unrealistic and I mean hilariously as a matter of literal not scale. It got a solid chuckle from me out loud.
There was a lot of revelations for this season finale. Which started from a pretty noteworthy premise of The Greys giving Harry a way off planet leading to Harry needing to decide what to do. The episode is arc'd perfectly ending in a lot of things that we've been hinting at coming to a head and a few things we weren't thinking about to surprise you. The only part of the episode I didn't like was the "Documentary" within the show. A bunch of people talking about being taken or seeing Aliens that connected by to Patience in the end but as a whole I don't think was worth the time.
Can't wait till next season.
[7.5/10] After so much talk of them in prior episodes, I’m glad we finally got an episode with witches! This was more of a gag-heavy episode than a story episode, but I’m on board with that, especially when the gags are this good. Plus, there’s some fun, legitimately spooky elements here done well, which I always appreciate.
The one major arc here is Guillermo’s continuing to assert himself. I like how the other vamps are skeptical of his “getting a break” at first, and continue to treat him poorly, only for Guillermo to prove himself time and again. His being able not only to figure out which door to use via his understanding of Spanish, but parlaying his interesting in Shark Tank into a business opportunity with the semen-stealing witches is a funny throughline for him here. I also just appreciate his general orneriness about the whole thing, coming to realize that being a familiar is a racket and starting to rebel just a little.
The actual Witch stuff is tons of fun too. My favorite bit is, as always, Colin Robinson-related. His efforts to treat the room full of doors they’re shunted into by the witches as an escape room is very funny, and it fits the show’s trademark humor based on the mix of the supernatural and the mundane. The episode finds lots of amusing and creative things to do with that setup. I also appreciate him trying to take credit for the escape despite Guillermo being the one to figure it out, as always.
But the funniest moment in the episode may have been the head witch transforming into a Nadja-like outfit and everyone, especially Lazlo, being fooled. The extended gag of Lazlo being confused by everyone with long dark hair and sleeping with them is ridiculous but laugh-worthy, and the show plays it for all it’s worth. I also like Nadja’s borderline superstition about witches being responsible for every minor inconvenience.
Otherwise, the actual witch ceremony is worth a few laughs, particularly in Lazlo’s reaction to everything that’s happening. Plus, I love the homage to The VVitch with “Black Peter.”
Overall, a totally fun outing for the show that pays off a part of the supernatural community the show’s referenced several times but not shown until now!
OK, to be honest, you're gonna have to check your expectations and pre-conceived notions at the door, and just kind of go with the flow on this one. It seems to be riffing on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Galaxy Quest, Idiocracy, Airplane, Modern Family, and a mishmash of every other comedic space themed serial in recent memory including WALL-E, that is, at least the part on the "Axiom".
A weirdly stellar cast, with House's Hugh Laurie making a reappearance not as a Starship Captain, but, an actor playing one, on a real starship, hired by the actual Captain, who had no social skills, and while pretending to be Star Trek's intrepid engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, has unfortunately impaled himself through the heart, while on an unnecessary EVA to "fix" the 23 second communications delay at the behest of Josh Gad's seemingly portly take on "genius" Elon Musk. Voyagers "Neelix" sans prosthetics, is on board as a REAL astronaut, who was the 30th man on Mars, although he was the FIRST Canadian. Journeyman Actress Rebecca Front (Doctor Who, Poldark, Humans) is irritatingly effective as busy body Karen Kelly, you know, the bossy lady that's always "all up in everyone's business", and, finally, "Being Humans" (Annie) Lenora Crichlow rounds out the cast as "the next in line to the real captain" engineer Billie.
After an (artificial) "gravity flip" during a record breaking in space yoga class flings their combined mass against a bulkhead, knocking them off course by 2.3 degrees, they discover that their 3 hour..., er, 8 month tour, is now going to take them much much longer. I'm not sure where they are going to go with this, but, if your willing to suspend disbelief, and just see how this plays out, who knows, it might just be fun.
So, I think this one border on being the same level as good as the premiere and slightly below it. I can definitely understand the criticisms about the future scenes more in this episode where it felt like a lot of time was spent not in the leap. I'm going to keep in perspective though that this show is different from the original. I will also say that I do like that it shows what is going on in the effort to bring Ben home considering it never really felt as active an effort on the original.
The leap itself was definitely interesting just for the fact that it took place in space. However, I feel like it would've been better if Ben had leapt into Stratton instead. She was really the main driving force of the episode and it felt like Ben was just there to back her up. If he leapt into her though, it would've played more into the dynamic set up between Reynolds and Stratton.
I am still excited to see where the series heads and what we have to look forward to in the future. The next one seems to be a boxing episode and I like that it seems that Ben is going to have to learn about boxing instead being a pro at it. Sometimes, it felt ridiculous how OP Sam could be at times.
