Ok, so I saw this when it premiered but by that point, it was already known that Bryan Fuller had left the series...so I knew I'd only get a tiny percentage of a masterpiece, and yes that's what I got.
The premiere has a terrific script! (BTW I'm referring to both episode 1 and 2) It's an explosive premiere where we get to see some of the most cinematic moments in the series. But it's obvious that a lot of the creative stuff in this pilot was not Fuller's. The lens flare, he would have detested this considering a Trekkie won't call the Abrams films "groundbreaking." And the Klingon segments were dark as hell (sort of like the Romulan portions of Abrams film. Also, the characters all have the same uniform. People this isn't Battlestar Galactica, this is Star Trek! And the part that hurts the most is that Fuller has stated that Edgar Wright would've been his choice to direct this two-parter. Yikes, this will be one of my forever "what-ifs" of TV along with Frank Darabont's Walking Dead (read about his S2 plans).
Fuller was demanding the franchise revert to the TV, which is where it belongs! But the decision of putting so many spin-offs in development shows CBS is making this more like their Walking Dead (a fresh cow that will be murdered by the hundreds of spin-offs). After watching Picard, which I thought was solid even though I had never seen any of the original or the sequels, some of which Fuller had worked on. It's just disappointing to know he was kicked out and his admiration for how the franchise shows he was the right person for the job. As a devout follower of his, I didn't continue (it's a practice I have with TV shows, I would've quit The Walking Dead after S1 if I had known it wasn't going to be Frank Darabont but I have made certain exceptions like The West Wing, the final season feels like a solid spin-off).
I also loved the first JJ Abrams film, but knowing there's a richer history to the Star Trek universe has me craving for a binge one of these days. Anyways, whatever Bryan Fuller does next, I will watch.
Lower Decks is a bad spoof of what used to be Star Trek made by people who ruined Star Trek for the next generation, dumbing it down so much it becomes a different beast of what it once was. The comedy in this episode isn't for me, it's simple and basic and not even the little nods to TNG and others can save it.
The main character is ADHD Michael Burnham on speed, unlikeable, annoying and clearly the main thing. The other introduced characters are the classic ensign who just happens to be depicted as the dumb dweeb. The other two are there for filling and to introduce their love-interest for some reason or the other.
The ending of the episode has them go into a memberberry rant to make sure for all those Trekkies and Trekkers that have been disappointed by the last 10 years of Nu Trek that this IS actual Trek... Unfortunately... it isn't.
This show would have been great in the 90's or even 00's as a (still unfunny) spoof (unless other writers were involved) when Star Trek was still revered. Now it's just an extra dump on what Star Trek used to be... It's ironic that the actual Star Trek spoof (The Orville) has received the status of actual Trek whereas this will only go down as another kick in Trekkies' balls/labia.
Also not a fan of the art-style.
The first show from a long time where actually the light is considered a bad thing. I wonder why queen Kane removed her hair. Maybe for a badass look. But I checked the actress out and she is gorgeous with long hair. So queen Kane admitted at last she loves Jerlamarel and wants his kids. More than that, she wants her kids to be able to see like him. But wait, doesn't she want to kill his other two children for the exact same reason, saying they are witches... The queen also has some internal problems in her kingdom. Obviously not many agree to her way of ruling and she basically had to fry two in front of everyone. The episode showed that they are living inside a lake wall or something kike that and they also have electricity. She even mentioned electric fences to keep animals out. But the water slowly destroys the wall and instead of focusing her mind to keep her kingdom and people save, Kane is obsessed with Jerlamarel. Also the guy who she killed told her to bring her army back, but I didn't see an army. Just a few horsemen burning and killing people. Guess those are the witch hunters.
I am so glad that Paris told the kids about their real father and gave them the books to learn. In her desire to keep them safe Maghra would have killed them, because soon the hunters will find them, thanks to Bax of course. I think this guy's death will be terrible. I really enjoyed how Baba threatened him. He was about to cry.
Damn I thought last was the end of the queen. Please no more scenes of her praying. k thanks lol should of known she had an exit plan!!
wowwwww that’s a ton of folks she killed. Damn and she was the queen. hopefully they learned from GOT and she will get what’s coming to her. Unlike Cersei did in GOT.
Hate to say it, as much as like Alfie Woodard she seems kind of missed cast. She sounds too much like her normal self.
Man Haniwa is so angst!!!
Come on Kofun how you letting a man that can’t see beat you so bad. haha
ohhhhhhhhh I spoke to soon. I thought who ever stole their stuff could see and got lost in the moment. dang it!! haha
Oh snap it’s Firestorm from DC’s legends of tomorrow. Dope!! Good to see him doing his thing!
Yeah pretty damn sure she’s the queens sister. no confirmation needed. haha The way she talking about her dad after the queen talked about how her dad didn’t love her.
Hmm will Kofun and ol girl become a thing? I must of missed when she let them know she’s known their secret all their lives. Oh wait she’s too old for Kofun then. haha age ain’t nothing but a number and he doesn’t have any options at the moment. haha
OUCH she said she finds it amusing he can see but observes so little. Burnnnn
Blah the queen part after being kidnap is way too long. We don’t care enough about her for all that screen time with her being belittled. Blah I figure she will be rescued some how. So it’s a bit much to me to be as long as it was. lol at least she didn’t pray. haha think I have PTSD
Finally It’s Baba time!! He deadly with a sword!!!
Wait!!!! She could of commanded him all this time!!! So many people died and she did nothing. He must not know she’s the mother of the twins. Guess she ran off with Jerlamarel when she got pregnant and he ran off from her once she had them. dude just traveling around dropping his seed. Guess that will dilute the gene pool.
Damn weekly bs. lol I wish I could binge the season.
On the first season, See presented and explored a post apocalyptic world where the civilization lost their ability to see. This concept opened up many interesting questions, but the series gradually degenerated into derivative storylines with weak writing ("I want to pray"). Nevertheless, I watched all the episodes on the merits of 3 characters: Boba Voss (always charismatic Jason Momoa), Tamacti Jun (bad ass Christian Camargo), and Maghra (beautiful Hera Hilmar) and expertly staged action sequences.
The second season pivots the series to Game of Thrones-style backdrop. Multiple factions and/or characters are vying to unite and rule the civilization: Edo Voss (recasted to Dave Bautista from Guardians of the Galaxy), Queen Kane, Maghra, and Harlan (fantastically played by Adrian Paul).
My favorite scene is the goodbye exchange between Baba and Kofun.
Baba: Kofun. Kofun. My son.
Listen to me.
Your and mother and I...
we raised you to be beautiful, not a warrior.
I don't want you to have to fight the way I had to.
I never imagined a life for you away from the Alkenny.
And I failed to prepare you.
Baba: After a touching farewell, he goes on a Ned Stark-style impossible mission to rescue his daughter Haniwa from his estranged and enemy brother Edo.
Wren: She tells Haniwa that while those who can see are not viewed as witches, Edo and his people will execute them. That begs the question. Edo employees a seeing child to find Baba, reinforcing Wren's discriminated victim arc. I am guessing she will turn to Haniwa's side.
Harlan: A great new addition to replace the best character, Tamacti Jun. He has shades of Little Finger, planting seeds into Maghra to betray Queen Kane (who is probably not as dumb and impulsive as she appears).
P.S. I don't like the new opening theme. Full orchestra score and busy graphics diminish the first season's atmospheric theme which perfectly encapsulated the series.
The movie is very well made. Everything from the sets to the costumes and the acting is, in typical Ridley Scott matter, flawless.
However the way the story is told is not to my liking. You have about 45-50 mins of content but, due to the multiple perspective way of storytelling, you have to watch it three times. It's a "he said, she said" that in the end isn't proven one way or the other because, let's face it, "God has spoken" and "an honest man can't die" is as stupid as "you can't get pregnant from a rape because if you don't enjoy intercourse you can't get pregnant. That's sience"
And there lies the biggest issue I have - the movie criticizes a whole society for there misogynistic ways but like with the above that was how it was. Women were property just like men could be. Or what do you thing all the folk working for those nobles were ? From our moral point of view this was wrong but pointing a finger back 700 years in time is easy to do.
Well, it's not a political forum here and I think I will attract comments with what I said no matter what.
The actual duel at the end was great, very well filmed, with the instense and brutality you imagine had to be there in a fight for ones honor to the death. But after sitting through more than two hours it wasn't enough to save the movie in my eyes.
I have no idea how to rate this episode. It is a technical masterpiece. The imagery of Dany wreaking her terrible vengeance on King's Landing left me awe-struck. "The Bells" doesn't just give us all the amazing CGI wizardry of flaming death reigning from above and masses of bodies hacking one another to bits. It firmly and fully conveys the abject terror that being in that situation would create, anchoring the Saving Private Ryan-esque horror in the reaction of Jon, the efforts to escape by Arya, the mother and child who are the audience inserts and vehicles our sympathies as innocents caught in this maelstrom. There is such an atmosphere, such arresting visuals, and such a sad, frightening mood that Game of Thrones evokes here. You could show this episode to someone who'd never seen the show before and, while it would spoil a hell of a lot, I still think they would get and appreciate the gruesome peak of the show's "war is hell" mentality in a potent and visceral way.
But god help me, the show writes so many characters so poorly, and rushes others, that when you step away from the sheer spectacle and emotion of what you've just seen, it's hard not to just be frustrated. Jaime's eight-season path of growth and development basically goes to pot in twenty minutes of "I just love Cersei", without enough time to grapple with all he'd done and how he'd changed. Cersei crumples in the face of loss and death, in a way that doesn't track with her actions in the Battle of Blackwater. And Tyrion has gone from being smart if a little unduly optimistic to being downright naive about his sister and his queen and pretty much everyone these days. Other characters get a bit of the short shrift in terms of their journeys too, but the Lannisters in particular, who the show spent so much of its narrative juice on over the course of the series, just get butchered in terms of their character arcs here.
I am still awed by the visceral brutality of the Cleganebowl, touched by Tyrion's farewell to his brother and The Hound's last lesson to his accidental student, and I even buy Dany's descent into madness 100%. The final turn happens quickly, but the show has been hinting at Dany's dark side for a long time, and I definitely can accept losing pretty much all the people she loves or cares about it in the span of a week as spurring her to unleash that. Again, the direction, editing, and aesthetics of the Battle of King's Landing is truly masterful, letting you feel the force and fury of Dany's quest for vengeance while rooting it in the lives of the innocent people she's wasting.
But I still just can't get past the sorry destinations "The Bells" had for a number of characters I really cared about on the show. As spectacle, as emotion, and the bloody ascendance of The Mad Queen, the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones wows and more than does its job. But as a vindication and culmination of character arcs the show has been seeding and growing for eight years now, there is so much to be disappointed with her, that it tarnishes the episode's otherwise stunning technical and emotional achievements.
Brilliant drama.
"Kramer vs. Kramer" is a terrific drama about an unhappy woman who walks out on her husband and young son. The husband now has to take up the responsibilities of taking care of the boy. As he does, they get to know each other better. But then, the mother and wife returns, and she wants custody of the boy. "Kramer vs. Kramer" has lots of drama with some wonderful bits of comedy thrown in for good measure. Dustin Hoffman won his first Best Actor Oscar for his brilliant performance here. Most people say his performance in "Rainman", which won him his second Oscar, is his best. He was great in that film, but I disagree that its his best. In my opinion, the best performance of Hoffman's career is in this movie. Scene after scene shows us why Hoffman is one of the best American actors working today. He's also funny at times. Also giving a terrific performance is Meryl Streep, who wasn't as well known when she made this film like she is today. Streep, like Hoffman, also won her first Oscar (for Best Supporting Actress) for her work in "Kramer vs. Kramer" as the wife and mother who tries to find herself after walking out on her family. Justin Henry, who was only 8 years old when the film came out, is wonderful as Hoffman and Streep's son. He won an Oscar nomination for his role here, and still to this day he is the youngest performer to receive an Oscar nomination in a competitive category (Best Supporting Actor). Jane Alexander is also fine as a conserned family friend. She too got an Oscar nomination (for Supporting Actress where she lost to co-star Streep). "Kramer vs. Kramer" is a great film from start to finish. Writer-director Robert Benton has made a film that's absolutely unforgettable.
They are going on a big mission. They may not return. Why not waste the first 15 minutes or so centered around that fact? I mean, can you be sure that we - the audience - otherwise understand what's at stake? No, 'cause we're stupid. Everyone needs to say goodbye, must explain why not coming along (or like in case of the two presidents why they come along), must confess their love to each other, deliver another sub-complex motivational speech over com (that screams Hollywood BS pathos) and so forth. Even after jumping to the galactic barrier Saru and the Good Doctor steal my time by discussing the universal concept of love in the most shallow and uninspired way you could ever imagine.
The barrier is strange and stupid as ever. Both from a visual and a cosmological point of view. Classic Star Trek. Brings back some memories.Discovery isn't to blame here!
The two engineers befriending each other is actually the better sub plot (it's easy to beat the actual main plot aboard the Discovery). Reminds me of the incarcerated Miles O'Brien. It makes his motives clear for the first time. This doesn't save this season but it's a piece that was always missing.
Q is just a great actor. Just like Stewart, who may have actually found a fitting role in this show: an old, confused man barely being able to project strength or to show extraordinary mental abilities. Nothing wrong about such an anti-hero and it were perhaps the better choice for his character in season one, too (I'm afraid he'll loose his delicate feebleness soon). The initial conversation between Q and Picard is just great.
The general premise of such a parallel universe is getting old. It's like a shameless rip-off from DS9 and the Empress's (or is it Empress' or Empresses'?) world in Discovery. Everyone is dressed in black, mankind is once again in Terran genocide mood and slave owning mode, and most of our beloved main characters are monsters or at least working on behalf of dictators. Still don't like the idea of parallel universes or jumping though time in all of those new shows. Once - like DS9's parallel universe or the Q-episodes in TNG - this was always a one-off episode to add some flavor to the regular universe - mostly inconsequential episodes to experiment with. But in all the new shows, it's like: "We don't have any ideas how to fill the known universe with good stories. We desperately need a new setting and more violence and the chance to meddle with all traditional Star Trek parameters. Hey why not let them jump thousand of years into the future? Why not catapult them into a parallel universe with the help of a supernatural being?" That's just an excuse for sloppy writing. And 'cause that's so distant to the original universe, they simply drop some familiar names from the original timeline: Stargazer, Sisko, Martok etc. That feels like an amateurish move to avoid being disconnected from the Star Trek brand. And the next amateurish move is expected in the next episode: why not quickly jump to 2024?
Showing how Seven/Annika would be if she was never assimilated, is interesting but they could have allotted more time to this. Plus, I don't really believe that Annika w/o her Borg encounter would behave the way she does. Even if her memory about that original timeline weren't wiped out by Q, the loss of her implants should surely have an effect on her behavior? I mean, wasn't that physical Borg/Human hybrid thing not always part of her personality? Or is that just not entirely thought through? Aren't hey interested in exploring Seven's persona? I mean, she was by far the most intriguing character (the awful t&a approach aside) in Voyager. She is super complex and you can still relate to her, but the writers don't seem to care.
But overall it's a good episode. I care for the characters (that's actually more than I could say about 99% of all people onboard the parallel show Discovery). Even Agnes' role as the odd professor is okay-ish (and she was easily the most annoying character in season 1). The alternate world is worth to be explored. The plot is consistent (aka I understand their motives, goals and the general premise) and well within the expected parameters of the Star Trek Franchise (as far as parallel universes and almighty supernatural beings go). Even the excitement isn't entirely based on stupid explosions and firefights.
It amuses me that sometimes, Starfleet ships can be remote controlled by people who know their command codes or whatever, and sometimes they can't. Clearly they just wanted an excuse for Dax's tractor beam shenanigans, rather than just transmitting an "all stop" command to the Rio Grande remotely. (The warp tow actually makes sense, though. It's probably cheaper, fuel-wise, to run only one warp engine and have that runabout tow the other, than to run both warp reactors. Post-scarcity society or not, efficiency is still valuable.)
Wow, Alixus is a totally unlikable character. There's actually no reason whatsoever to sympathize with her. If this episode has a flaw, she's it. Good villains (and she's worthy of the appellation, I'd say) have a hook for the audience to see things from their point of view and understand why they do the things they do, however evil they might be. Alixus is just a flat, sociopathic plot device.
Sisko is my favorite part of this episode, even though Avery Brooks isn't quite at the top of his game yet. (It takes him a few seasons to really hit his stride with the character. At this point in the series, he's still delivering a fair few lines in odd ways that don't feel right.) Him climbing back into the "hell box" is the best moment of the whole thing.
I'm just judging this episode. I try not to judge the entire season (see my season 2 comments for that). This episode is actually quite okay. It didn't answer all my questions. Some aspects feel rushed. Parts of it still don't make sense. But they tried to connect some of the loose ends. I appreciate this. It actually foreshadows the next huge mystery - a cliffhanger for season three it seems. Not sure whether season 3 should again deal with such a gigantic threat to humanity. Where are the quieter stories?
After the talk with Q, the mother Picard story makes at least some sense. It's just another trial I presume - and another lesson for Picard. Q can't stop being Q. And of course selfish Q designed this lesson also for his own benefit. Lonely Q needed a warm goodbye and he got that. And since writers are still lazy, Q (temporarily) gets his powers back so that they can travel back to the 24th century and where the boy is alive again. Convenient. He's omnipotent when that's needed by the authors. They say it has to do with energy balances/budgets. Creating a cure, hacking into Soong's computer and printer, teleporting himself from France to California and sending most of the crew back and resurrecting a dead crew member still works just fine. "Finger snapping" at Renée, traveling to Guinan's bar or to the FBI cellar or stopping Renée (so he doesn't need to ask Soong to do that for him at the party) won't work. Sure? But Q's goodbye is actually surprisingly touching. Q also indicates what he was really up to. Sort of. It's still mysterious how the whole story actually worked.
That's my newest (and likely flawed) interpretation of what happened:
Q is the omniscient good guy. Powerless or not - his plan works just like intended. Q has two goals (Forget the lame forgiveness story with Picard's mom - that's just one of Q's strange lessons. I refuse to give a report about those events. Also forget that he wants a friend before he dies)
* He wants to save Picard in particular before he's able to self-destruct his ship hereby ending his life.
* He wants to save Picard (and possibly all humankind) from the dangerous anomaly that appeared.
For some reason he needs allies to do so. That's why he needed a cooperative and friendly Borg collective with a special benevolent base attitude and a Queen that possesses insight to her future. For multiple reasons:
* Q apparently knows that the Borg are the only race powerful enough to fend this anomaly off.
* In 400 years time, Q needs a Queen that wants to help to save the Federation from the negative effects of the anomaly: he needs a potentially friendly collective.
* Even the Borg need time to prepare for the advent of the anomaly (let's say 400 years) and they must know when the anomaly is about to appear.
For his plan to work he needs a malleable Borg Queen who can be persuaded that a more cooperative and friendly Borg tactics might be a new approach that is worth to be tested. Thus, Q flings them into a particular timeline in which an (isolated and almost certainly desperate) Borg Queen faces yet another total defeat (one of many in different timelines - Borg sense other timelines it seems) because their confrontation approach was unsuccessful once again. She's disillusioned enough to try something new. Q made also sure that Picard, Jurati and Seven hold powerful key positions in that society which enable them to kidnap this Queen in the first place. Q (disguised as a shrink) created this timeline by stopping Renée from wanting to fly into space. W/o her discovery, a global environmental catastrophe can't be stopped and humanity becomes a race that first stops taking care of Earth and consequently starts to conquer other worlds (and relies on Soong's technology) in order to compensate.
Now things play out just like Q intended (free will is just an illusion): Time travel to 2024 (Is that something the Borg can do whenever they want? Why don't they do that more often? It's also very convenient that the Borg Queen has insight into the arrow of time and knows that 2024 is the date where things were manipulated by Q). Naturally, the Queen's first plan was to take advantage of the 400 years head start (that's probably why she was helping with time travel in the first place), escape and assimilate 21st century humanity to neutralize the future "Terran" threat, but Jurati can stop her from doing this and Q knew. Jurati and the Queen merge. The Jurati/Queen eventually becomes a benevolent factor and now possesses Jurati's knowledge about the advent of an anomaly in 400 years time.
Now, the original timeline needs to be restored. Q made this an easy fix. Picard has a five minute talk with Renée and that's sufficient to make her fly into space again. It doesn't matter that she's a Picard ancestor I believe. The protagonists around Picard can't know what exactly will restore the timeline (and the Watcher doesn't know either). But the mere fact that Q interfered as Renée's shrink, makes them believe that it's important that Renée changes her mind, overcomes her fears reverberated by shrink-Q and will become part of the Europa mission crew after all. Ultimately, Q knew that the original timeline will be restored and that they will protect Renée from Soong. When all his silly games and his little decoys (Soong, Kore, Talinn etc. [more on that later]) are finished, the crew is "finger snapped" back into the 24th century.
The Borg (better to say, this presumably isolated peaceful collective under Jurati's command) now had 400 years to hide from other belligerent part of the collective (those who fought the Federation in TNG and VYG) and to come up with a theory about the anticipated anomaly that's about to appear in that very moment. Conveniently, the Jurati-Queen knows what she has to do in 400 years time to set the chain of events into motion: appear at the right moment, summon Picard fro retirement, disguise that she's actually Jurati, scare Picard, make Picard activate auto-destruct (remember: she know all of that because she [Jurati] was there when the events unfolded for the first time - or she was told what is about to happen). This makes Q intervene and trigger the story. Thus, it's not entirely clear whether the Borg or Q set this chain of events into motion. Doesn't really matter. Both Q and Queen-Jurati knew enough about the past and future. In their perception all the events triggered were inevitable, the actions of the Borg and Q are indivisibly interwoven and Jurati just needed to repeat the steps she knew will be necessary to alert Q who promptly intervenes.
Now, Picard lives through the whole story (as described in episodes from 2 to 10). Based on this experience he is able to identify Jurati. Again: She of course couldn't reveal herself before - otherwise Picard would not have activated auto-destruct. Now knowing that it's Jurati-Queen, Picard assumes those Borg will probably be benevolent. He now stops the circular chain of events by deactivating auto-destroy. Thus, Q has no reason to reappear and the Borg save the galaxy indeed. End of story.
The Soong story doesn't really matter. It's really anyone's guess why Q wants to "liberate" Kore (it's certainly not important for season 2. And what's with Kore? Is she Soji after all?). I don't understand why Q - powerless or not - asks Soong to kill Renée. I mean, at that point, Picard is about to have his little motivational talk with Renée and that will restore the timeline. Just like it was always wanted by Q. Why does Q need Soong to interfere? I don't get it. Unless, he needed Q's Tesla to trigger Picard's coma and unless the subsequent conversation between the Queen and Soong (where his great future is revealed if he only stopped Renée) wasn't enough to start another attempt by Soong to go after Renée again, so that Talinn could die in the process of preventing that. (Not sure if he needed Q's extra motivation - it seems that he was easily manipulated by the Queen to do whatever she wants him to do) Plus, his development from unethical scientist to mad über-villain and violent Borg fire team leader is kind of surprising. Is that only because Q and the Queen (unimpeded by Jurati) give him an insight into "one of his possible futures"? Will he continue to fight for his desired future? Will he for example try to erase the recordings of the Europa mission and kill its crew when they come back?
She's a pretty useless character. She basically just told them that she's trying to protect Renée. Other than that she provides a transporter and camera surveillance of Q manipulating Renée. But she has no clue what to do either. Is Renée supposed to fly into space or not? She doesn't know. She wants to protect Renée (that's why she stops Soong) but how could she know that Renée is safer in space than she would be staying on Earth? Q perhaps only really wants a person like Tallinn in this story, so that she can be killed. Picard is supposed to learn a lesson about this loss: He needs to fix his relation with Laris when he's back (or is Laris actually an actual reincarnation of Tallin? That part I don't understand). Why is Soong dragged into the murder? It's just another of Q's silly games I presume. Doesn't really matter (for the time being). Anyone who has access to the launch pad and the quarantine area could have been motivated by Q to endanger Renée's life in a way so that Tallinn feels the need to step in. Still don't understand how the Jurati-Queen could possibly predict that Tallin's sacrifice (she's the "second Renée" that needs to die that the Jurati-Queen was so mysteriously referring to) is necessary to stop Soong.
###B-, C- and D-plots
There are more sub-plots. But they don't have any consequences (like the stories with ICE, FBI, Rios and his affair, Guinan [mostly fan service. Interesting to know that she knew most decisive parts of the story but kept this as a secret during her time aboard Enterprise], Elnor, Seven & Raffi).
Could it be more complicated and does it really make sense?
There's also a more or less sound explanation for the watcher. It feels very detached from the story; like an appendix to the episode or a preparation for Kore's role in season 3. The traveler from TNG that recruited Wesley was a watcher, too. Sort of guardian angels. Did they need to re-introduce Wesley to explain this part? I was glad when he left TNG for good. Plus, I still don't understand why Data looks like Soong. That's not explained in this show. Why would Data's designer (another guy from the future Soong family branch) would design a robot whose face looks like the face of an evil and mad ancestor?
Season finale! Exactly like in last season, it's time to tick some boxes. Lesbians anyone? Check! Makes no sense. They didn't even try to tell this romantic story since it was first implied in season one's finale. Or did they try, but failed to make their love special or even feel romantic? Nothing wrong about a good homosexual love story, but it ain't very well told. Another box to tick: save the cast for a possible return in season 3 and create a happy ending. That's so American/Hollywood. Even if that involves - like in season one's finale - to resurrect a crew member out of the blue.
PS: it's 2024 and they still don't do backups - let alone encrypt their data or use passwords.
TBH, this season was a mess. And this episode as well...
... so they have Wesley welcome Kori to the Travellers, but he can't interfere with Q's actions?
Somehow I thought Q would turn out to be Picard's father, but somehow I liked the interaction between him and Picard. But all the timetravel just because Picard should face some childhood trauma? We are led to believe that he can deal with being turned into a Borg, losing the rest of his family (Robert, Rene), but represses his mother's suicide? Of course, it's traumatic, no doubt about that, but that it didn't come up so far among all the trauma he had to deal with throughout those 30 years, is questionable.
Rios staying in the past... who cares? Sorry, but his whole plotthread was unnecessary and boring...
Jurati's plot was easily the most interesting one. But how did all this influence the Borg as we so far knew them? I mean they are a collective, so come that all the assimilations, including Picard's, still took place?
Otherwise, this season's been all over the place. If I hadn't some kind of investment in the characters, I'd quit. But I guess I'll tune in regardless when this show returns for its final season.
I needed some time to think about what this episode in the end was. For the most part it was what I expected. Putting everything together in a hurry to get to the finale and trying to explain everthing more or less satisfactory. But it did also something no Star Trek episode or movie did for a very long time: it genuinely surprised me with a plot twist I did not see coming and I thought was really great. That came about half way into to an otherwise rather uninteresting episode.
The Europa Mission plot was solved within minutes and seemed at this point like an afterthought. It was completely clear it wasn't Reneé that came out of the room. Talinn's talk with Reneé and her death scene felt empty for me.
The most brilliant scientist on earth doesn't even have a backup of all his life's work ? C'mon - really ? And then he pulls out the Khan file. I hope it's not a pre-cursor for season three. Because Khan doesn't work without Kirk.
And then came Wes. And that was amazing how they incorporated the whole thing with him and the Travelers into everything, including TOS. And I wonder how they can do that and at the same time come up with episodes like pseudo-Mulder who did zilch for the story. But why does a Traveler need a transporter I wonder ??
The next thing was another talk with Seven and Raffi that really pulled things down again. I'd rather had them continue with the scene where Q finally explains to Picard his motives. That was a great dialogue that raises many questions not so much about Picard than about Q. And I for one was more sad to see him go then for what Picard went through. While I like the fact that he learned to accept himself the way he his and be open for others in his life, I still don't like it needed a mentally ill mother who commited suicide in his past.
The rest of the episode I could've lived without. I am not even mentioning Rios because what happened to him was obvious probably since the middle of the season. Likewise who the Borgqueen on the Stargazer was. Althought you could write a dissertation about all the paradoxons needing to happen for this to take place. And the big Galactic Event was something that felt like added in post. Hey , let's have some galaxy threatening event at the end. Didn't Q just say "why does it always have to be the fate of the universe ?"
Summary: Give me a 2+ hour made for streaming release movie with all the essential parts of the story, leave all the rest along the wayside and I probably would have sung high praise. But there was so much going on I couldn't care less about that overshadowed the few parts I really liked.
Like always this is my personal point of view. I'm happy for everyone who liked it. Because Star Trek is about tolerance.
[9.8/10] One of the ways you can tell that a show is great, not just good, is when it’s engrossing even when there’s not anything particularly exciting or notable happening. It’s easy to be engaged, even giddy, about Better Call Saul in the midst of McGill-on-McGill courtroom combat, in the middle of another of Jimmy’s capers, as Mike Ehrmantraut is springing another one of his traps, or when another little Breaking Bad easter egg pops up. But the mark of a great show is that it can be just as transfixing, just as mesmerizing, to watch Chuck have dinner with his ex-wife, the moment laden with hopes and expectations, with little more happening than a conversation between old friends.
Better yet, that flashback to a time when Jimmy and Chuck were using their scheming in concert and not against one another isn’t simply a flight of fancy to contrast their later antagonism, or a simple pleasing vignette of the early point of Chuck’s condition. It’s a character study, a set of scenes that never comes says anything outright about Chuck McGill, but tells us so much about who he is, how he reacts to obstacles and difficulties, and quietly sets up the bigger fireworks to come.
It shows that Chuck is a prideful man. That’s not much of a revelation, but what’s striking about the flashback are the lengths that he goes to hide his condition from his ex-wife, Rebecca. He concocts a story about a mixup with the electric company (poetically enough, involving transposed letters on an address), and tries to keep it all under wraps.
When Rebecca uses a cell phone that causes his “acute allergy to electromagnetism” to flare up (featuring superb camera work and sound design to convey his perception of it), he throws it out of her hands. But when called to account for his behavior, he doesn’t come clean about why he did it. Tellingly, he not only comes up with an excuse, he not only turns the blame onto Rebecca herself rather than accept it for be honest, but he frames it in terms of propriety, in terms of what’s “right,” in terms of a decorum that he sees himself as adhering to and chastises others for not meeting his standard. It is a defense mechanism, a self-preservation method, one that in that moment and in the future, causes him to mask his frustrations in grandiose notions of propriety and principles rather than face his own failings and prejudices.
But most importantly, even when Rebecca is effectively storming out, an act that would thwart the elaborate lengths he went to under the clear purpose of winning her back, he keeps Jimmy from telling her the truth. Even though Chuck seemed on the cusp of making a breakthrough with a woman he clearly still had feelings for, he could not bear to be thought of as sick; he could not bear to be though of a lesser; he could not bear to be thought of as crazy. Jimmy McGill knows that, and though he clearly takes no pleasure in it, it’s how he takes his brother down.
In just five minutes, Better Call Saul gives its audience a snootful of character detail and foreshadowing that establishes and reestablishes every hint and bit of shading to make the series’ peak drama at the end of the episode that much more understandable and meaningful. It’s a sign of this show’s virtuosity, and the way it understands tension, character, and storytelling like no other show on television.
And that’s just the first five minutes! “Chicanery” goes full courtroom drama in a way that BCS, despite being one of the best legal shows to grace our television screens, hasn’t really done before. The show sets it up nigh-perfectly, laying out witness testimony, objections, and grants of “leeway” that make sense in context while also providing enough wiggle room for the major characters to be a little more theatrical that would be typical for a disciplinary proceeding.
That extends to the episode’s supporting characters as well. Kim Wexler, who is Better Call Saul’s secret weapon, is not only sharp and decisive in the courtroom, but amid all the intra-McGill squabbling, gets a big win. Rather than relishing in her success, Kim distinguishes herself from both McGill brothers by coming clean to the representatives from Mesa Verde about all this ugliness, only to have the head of the bank brush it off and call her the best outside counsel he’s ever had. It’s subtle but important way that Kim and Jimmy fully win here, and that the blowback from Chuck’s machinations do not sink the client and the work that Kim has put so much effort into.
It also extends to Howard, who, while frequently a cipher on this show, continues to offer some of the most pragmatic and complex approaches to these situations of anyone. He is clearly on Chuck’s side, and clearly interested in preserving the good name of his firm. But he is also firmly honest on the stand, complimentary about Jimmy when he doesn’t have to be, frank about how his rise and fall within HHM, and cognizant of Chuck’s limitations and liabilities in a way that Chuck himself simply isn’t.
What ensues is an incredible chess match, a battle of wits and wills, between Jimmy and Chuck. Chuck carefully rehearses his testimony, again careful to couch his attack on his brother as not coming from a place of affront or weakness in himself, but to an abstract, platonic ideal -- the law. Chuck is out to show that he does not hate his brother; he cares for him, wants what’s best for him, but also wants what’s best for the legal professional he claims to hold so dear.
“Chicanery” subtly undercuts the sincerity of Chuck’s words not just by their rehearsed nature, but in the selection of detail that precedes them. He professes to love the law because it guarantees equal treatment to everyone under the same rules and regulations, and yet he is driven to these proceedings in a jaguar, pulls up to the courthouse in the presence of reserved parking cones, and saunters in as the concerned god on high, blameless for his own misfortunes and ready to direct judgment at those he sees as at fault.
But Jimmy is ready, as always, with a plan of his own, one that is not completely above board. His official goal is to not to dispute that it’s his voice on the tape or that it was tampered with, but that he said what he said because he was concerned for his brother’s wellbeing and more importantly, his sanity. In that, he hopes to convince the disciplinary committee that he did not undertake the elaborate, “baroque” scheme to disrupt his brother’s dealings with Mesa Verde that Chuck alleges, but that he gave into Chuck’s paranoid fantasy so as to prevent his brother from slipping further.
And like the best of Jimmy’s lies, it works because there is a grain of truth to it. We know that Chuck isn’t wrong that even if there was no hard evidence of it, Jimmy unleashed an elaborate ploy to trip up Chuck. But we also know that Jimmy means it when he says he would say anything to make his brother feel better, to prevent Chuck from slipping back into his aluminum foil-lined nightmare. Jimmy may have been admitting what really happened rather than telling Chuck “whatever he wanted to hear,” but coming from Slippin’ Jimmy, that is the truest sign that he genuinely would have said anything, even the god’s honest, to make his brother feel better.
That’s also what makes it so tragic, so impressive but sad, that Jimmy will now do anything to show that his brother is insane. Better Call Saul is tremendous at muddying the moral waters in complex, unassuming ways, but Jimmy’s plan to provoke Chuck may be the apotheosis of an act that is clever, resourceful, full of Jimmy’s trademark showmanship, understandable, and yet also more than a bit diabolical. It’s easy to root for Jimmy, particularly in the shadow of his brother’s superciliousness, but it’s one more case of Jimmy covering up one dirty trick with yet another.
While Jimmy normally revels in that sort of gamesmanship, in the razzle dazzle that makes him as effective as lawyer as he was a conman, he seems to take no joy in it. He reveals that he had Mike take those photographs of Chuck’s apartment to lure Rebecca back, something that he knew would put his brother off balance. But when he stands by the vending machines (which create a subtle buffer to prevent Chuck from confronting him about it) he does not have a wisp of glee at his plan coming to fruition, just the hurt resignation that it’s come to this.
Jimmy, however, is not done. In his final act meant to prove to the disciplinary board that his brother is unbalanced and thus untrustworthy, he resorts to some of the titular “chicanery.” He employs Huell(!) to slip a cell phone battery in Chuck’s pocket, and what follows is one of the best scenes in the show’s history.
It involves a back and forth between Jimmy and Chuck. Jimmy seems to pulling every rabbit out of his hat that he can come up with to expose his brother as a nut. He shows pictures from inside Chuck’s house. He gestures to Rebecca in the audience and even garnishes an emotional apology from Chuck to her. He plays “commit and contradict” with Chuck about his alleged illness, trying to establish for the disciplinary committee that Chuck’s issues are psychosomatic, and getting his brother to affirm that he is not feeling electromagnetic waves from anywhere in particular in the room.
It’s then that Jimmy takes out his cell phone, presumably expecting a reaction from Chuck to prove that his brother would respond to it on sight. Instead, Chuck, appearing wise to Jimmy’s machinations, determines that the phone is without is battery, and it seems, for a moment, like Jimmy’s stunt has been foiled, more fodder for Chuck to demonstrate that his brother is a two-bit huckster, not a lawyer. Instead, Jimmy plays the magician, revealing the final element of his trick -- the battery that Huell slipped into Chuck’s breast pocket.
That is what sets Chuck off, as he pulls the battery out like it’s radioactive and tosses it on the floor. He goes into a deranged rant that ought to earn Michael McKean an Emmy. He howls about his brother’s irresponsibleness, about how Jimmy’s billboard stunt had to be staged, about how defecating in a sunroof, about slights going back to childhood. The camera zooms in slowly on Chuck as he digs himself deeper and deeper, each word making this crusade seem more like the childish vendetta from a mentally-disturbed man against the imagined slights from his little brother than a high-minded mission to uphold the law. As more and more of his angry, pontificating face fills the frame, he stops, and the ensuing shot of the disciplinary board’s reaction says it all.
Jimmy has done it. In front of the state bar, in front of their partners, in front of the women they love, Jimmy exposes his brother as a mentally ill person ranting and raving, not the dignified legal lion he tried so hard to present himself as, in the courtroom and in that dinner with Rebecca way back when. The episode cuts to a far shot of Chuck, seeming so small, so defeated in the frame, as the buzz of the exit sign looms large next to him. This is his Waterloo, the terrible culmination of two brothers’ issues with one another, laid bare in a court of law for all the world to see.
Chuck, more than Hector or Howard or the cartel, is the villain of Better Call Saul. That makes it easy to hope that Jimmy overcomes him. But in that final moment, Jimmy again mixes fact with fiction. His brother is telling the truth. As paranoid as it sounds, as childish as it is to hold onto certain grudges and resentments, Chuck is correct in all of his assessments. And yet, as the opening scene tells us, he is a prideful individual, unwilling to admit to his illness, to his difficulties, as anything that would make him seem the lesser or not in control. That is his downfall, the fatal flaw that not only keeps him from carrying out his plan, but from what we see in this episode, which costs him the love of both his wife and his brother. That is unspeakably sad -- the story of an individual, even a villain, coming so close, and losing everything worth having in the end, when the worst of him is put on display.
[9.8/10] What an episode! It's hard to imagine an hour of television that could draw out the differences between Jimmy and Kim better than this one.
In the wake of Howard's death and all the sins she committed and enabled, Kim numbs herself in a colorless world of banal conversations and empty experiences. Everything about her day-to-date life is colorless and dull, resigning herself to a sort of limbo as both penance and protection from inflicting anymore wrongs on the world. And even there, she won't make any decisions, offer any opinions, as though she's afraid that making any choice will lead her down another bad road.
Until Gene intervenes, balks at her command to turn himself in, and tells her to do that if she's so affronted by what they did. And holy hell, she does! If there was ever an indicator of moral fortitude in the Gilliverse, it's that. The courage of your convictions it takes to have gotten away with it, lived years away from the worst things you've ever done, and still choose to return to the place where it happened and accept your punishment, legal, moral, or otherwise, is absolutely incredible. Rhea Seehorn kills it, especially as Kim comes crumbling apart on an airport shuttle, amid all the hard truths she set aside for so long coming back in one painful rush. It's a tribute to Seehorn, and to Kim, how pained and righteous Kim seems in willfully choosing to confess and suffer whatever fate comes down, unlike anyone else in Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad.
It makes her the polar opposite of Gene, who finds new depths of terribleness as the noose tightens around him. As he continues the robbery of the cancer-stricken man whose house he broke into in the last episode, he finds new lows. Even when this risky excess has worked out for him, he pushes things even further by stealing more luxury goods as time runs out. He nearly smashes in the guy's skull with an urn for his own dead pet. He bails on Jeff. And when Marion finds him out, he advances on her with such a physical threat, a dark echo of the kindness to senior citizens that once defined his legal career.
The contrast is clear. Kim will turn herself in even when she doesn't have to and has excuses and justifications she could offer. Gene resorts to ever more cruelty, fraud, and craven self-interest to save himself from facing any of the consequences he so richly deserves. Kim is right to tell Jesse Pinkman that Saul used to be good, when she knew him. The two of them will understand better than anyone else in this universe what it's like to attach yourself to someone who sheds everything that made them a decent human being. Jimmy lost the part of himself that was good, or kind, or noble, even amid his cons. But Kim held onto her moral convictions, and it's what makes her not just Jimmy's foil, but the honorable counterpoint to the awful person he became.
EDIT: Here's a link to my usual more in-depth review of the episode if anyone's interested -- https://thespool.net/reviews/better-call-saul-season-6-episode-12-recap/
Good episode. I did not really like the previous 2 "seven years later episodes". Other than showing his miserable life they didn't tell us a lot about what actually went down in BCS. I'm not really interested in his heist/robbery schemes. Yes, it was/will be satisfying to see how Saul's story ends eventually, but the show could have ended in 6x09. I guess producers felt like Saul needed his El Camino. But this episode is actually quite good and tells an important story. As if that wasn't clear, she feels guilty, she knows she did wrong and she will do the decent thing (even if it took 7 years to submit her affidavit and come clean). Not sure if it was really necessary to explain her emotional state explicitly. I mean we all (except for Saul) understood why she freaked out, but it's certainly nice to see her again (for one last time?). And her new life is pictured brilliantly. Seehorn doing an incredible job to show us her new persona who is a shadow of her former self trapped in Florida's suburbia. At least she is one of the few people who escaped the sinking ship more or less unscratched before things escalated in BB.
I wanted to say this last episode but it's not too late: Jesse became old. I wish they somehow would have deep-faked his face or something. Alternatively, he could have lost a few pounds. Matthew McConaughey style. Or even better: they could have pre-produced these scenes seven years ago, but that's maybe too much to ask. Or they could have refrained from adding him to BCS. It feels like unnecessary fan-service. I don't need him to understand that Saul has already transformed into the person we know from BB - right after Kim left.
PS: I still don't like the b/w palette. Classic b/w movies look vibrant and warm; this b/w palette looks dull and cold. Only the reflection from the past in Gene's glasses are a nice touch to the b/w imagery (an effect last seen in Schindler's Liste)
I have a bit of a mixed opinion about the show. It still looks nice. Perhaps a bit too clean (does Bronwyn really always looks like she's about to attend the Met Gala? All other peasants are wearing rags and she's sporting a clean and sexy dress. Really?). But that's apparently where the budget went to. I feel that they neglected characters and stories though. They jump from location to location but I'm not sure we learn all that much character-wise. And the best described character Galadriel is strange. I would even call her a bit childish and immature. Isn't she supposed to be wise, composed and clever? Although I know very little of the LotR lore, I always thought the elves don't behave like humble humans (the worst example of this was of course last episode's Baywatch-horse scene). I mean, I get it: the first season is used to introduce the various locations and characters. Given the sheer number of different locations and people that's a monumental task already and in this snail speed they need more episodes to create believable characters. Thus, I'm afraid, most time of the remainder of this season will also be allotted to this rather boring introduction. And boring it is: all the character building via dialogue is mediocre. Plus, over the course of the first season, they want us to show the slowly growing threat to this mostly very peaceful world. So they can't have too much action w/o the stakes having reached existential levels. I'm okay with that. They should take all the time needed to have a credible climax later, but surely this is another factor why this episode doesn't feel exciting.
Something is simply off. I watch this episode and I profoundly enjoy the locations, costumes, props, wigs and make-up, but the story just passes by. I don't really care too much. Why should I pay attention? It's very one-dimensional and very black and white. You know exactly who is good and who is bad and who will forge alliances with whom (after some initial reluctance). There's still some mysterious aspects left (primarily surrounding the orcs, their handler and the comet guy), but it's not really important to pay attention: Orcs are bad, the comet guy is good and he will help the elves and their allies eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if the essential parts of season one's story can be summarized in one short paragraph. And all the fantasy babble feels tailor-made to true fans of the LotR franchise - it's not made for people like me. It's just a bit dull and unsophisticated story telling with unnecessary pathos and it's way too dragged out. Tbh, this is totally in line with the movies in the LotR franchise.
Numenor looks really beautiful and I would really like to explore its palaces and streets, but the story is totally at odds with what is described by Tolkien, and the showrunners do not have any justification for having done this, since the history of Numenor is summarised in detail in the Appendices to LotR they apparently have the rights to. They still avoid explaining what was the reason for the Numenoreans' enmity towards the Elves, namely, jealousy of the immortality possessed by the Elder Children of Illuvatar. Pharazon does some anti-Elvish speech but it looks like the majority of common people are afraid of the Elves stealing their jobs, which seems like a joke, and there is talk about the Elves coming to Numenor, whereas in fact the opposite direction was in the minds of Numenoreans, who wanted to sail to Valinor as they believed they would gain immortality by coming to the deathless lands. Also, it is odd that Tar-Miriel's father is sickly as the Numenoreans did not know sickness, almost like the Elves, only they stayed mortal and the Faithful died of their own will just like Aragorn does in LotR. Tar-Miriel shows Galadriel the palantir while in fact all palantiri were in possession of Elendil's family who took them all to Middle-Earth when they escaped the doom of Numenor. The dream with the great wave Tar-Miriel has looks OK, but I have no idea why they start the show from Numenor's downfall if they plan to have five seasons, they should have started from Elros and slowly built towards Numenor's moral disintegration. I somehow like the OC Earien, she reminds me of Hermione in some sense, maybe because of her ambition and love of learning. In the end, Tar-Miriel decides to set off to Middle-Earth to help Halbrand's people - according to Tolkien, Numenoreans will be victorious and capture Sauron, who would destroy the island realm from within.
Speaking of Sauron, it seems that the orcish leader Adar may be him, since he speaks of his plans of "becoming like a god" and intends to conquer what is to become Mordor. He lets loose Arondir to pass his message, I wonder if Arondir would now become a double agent? It was a bit exciting as Theo was hiding from the orcs after he and his friend went to forage some food from their abandoned village, as an OC it wasn't clear whether he would be killed or not. The old guy from the tavern turns out to be a secret follower of Sauron, though he seems to suggest that Sauron is the meteor man.
Celebrimbor feels that the dwarves are hiding something from the Elves and sends Elrond to sound them out, apparently Durin jr. started working in a new mine, where the dwarves discover mithril. Elrond finds out about the mine only after overhearing Disa and Durin, but in the end his friend lets him into his confidence and shows him the new metal, and Elrond is the one that names it mithril. However, there is an accident and Durin's father orders his son to close the mine. We can also see Disa sing to the stone to release the trapped miners, I hated this in the trailers but here it looks grand. I also liked the scene in which Elrond reminisces about his father Earendel (it is not said he carries a Silmaril, though this word is mentioned in Appendices but maybe not in connection with Earendel) and encourages Durin not to stay estranged from his father on the account of the mine. Durin the king has a lot of trust in his son and believes in his ability as a future ruler, there is also father-son love between them. However, he sends Durin to spy on the Elves in turn as he does not believe in their good intentions. In this way, the mutual distrust of Elves and Dwarves is emphasised, though at this period there was real co-operation between them, so this seems a bit off and more fitting for a later period in Middle-Earth history.
Overall, it is quite far from Tolkien's writings but I am beginning to enjoy it a bit, I am curious about some OCs since we don't know anything about them from Tolkien's novels. There were no hobbits this episode and I didn't particularly miss them.
The first "good" episode of the season. Let's be frank. See is a campy dystopian sci-fi with high production value, led by always charismatic Jason Momoa. Each of the two previous seasons always started with a bang, immediately sucking you in. Then the air gradually leak out, mended by elaborately choreographed battle sequences to suck you back in.
This third and final season is a bit different. There was a bang alright, but just a whimper. The previous three episodes are mostly slow setup toward the final conflict. This episode finally takes charge and illuminate the belligerent parties: (1) Payans led by Maghra and Baba, (2) Trivantians led by evil scientist Tormada and "The Bank", and (3) Payans traditionalists (ex-Witchfinders) led by Lucien and Sibeth.
This episode is a bit slow getting there, but it is marked by two main sequences: (1) team Baba infiltrating and rescuing Jerlamarel's children (bomb makers) and (2) Sibeth. As to be expected, the choreography of the rescue is top notch and well executed.
Oh Sibeth! Love her or hate her, she is one remarkable character. I hope Sylvia Hoeks is enjoying the character as much as I enjoy hating her, because her portrayal is just sooooo darn interesting. Mocking voice characterization and facial expressions are just so priceless. The cave scene is just unexpected and just so.... Sibeth.
Pros
+Giving the Mystery guy the whole Iron Giant brainwashing is wonderful
+I think I've neglected to mention but the Orcs look fantastic and that is a huge accomplishment despite being easy to overlook
+ The Mystery man I am just assuming Olorin coming to the rescue against the Wargs
+I can see people calling the practice sword fight scene cringy but I thought it was pretty fun
+The color palette, set design, costume design, etc. is flawless
+General cinematography is magnificent
+Isildur's story is Tolkien level simple. However, this is the focus of the long term story and where most viewers will look to going on and I think the story is done well and dialogue is somewhat realistic rather than just pure snap
+Celabrimbor is fantastic, I hated that he looked elderly despite being an elf but he makes up for it in acting feats.
+Gotta love Halbrand but also we all want him to bang Galadriel (even though she's supposed to be taken at this point), he's the only thing that can penetrate Galadriel's shields and its more impactful than sex.
Neutral
*The song part was pretty well done but also seemed a bit out of place
*Ar Pharazon's colonialism is perfect and based although inappropriate for Tolkien
*Injection of the Silmarils felt cheap considering how big they are and how no one will understand they are far far more important than the Ring or mithril or anything of the sort (not to mention their lore is completely disconnected)
*Isildur's sister is so gorgeous I would also Kill a boat's worth or motherfuckers who meant nothing to me just to kiss her face
Cons
-Dumb awkward bit where Durin Jr cries about a table and gets acknowledged instead of laughed away
-Gil galad portrayed as a selfish scumbag bothers me
-Galadriel is still supposed to seem normal rather than Radical which is what her position should seem like
-Adar is a bitch and so is the entire Southlands story, can't wait for Halbrand to create Rohan hehehe
The episode was very intensive and character-driven as it has been the case in this first season of the show. Rhaenyra and Daemon (who have two children together by this time) return to King's Landing as they got news that Corlys' brother wants to put a claim to Driftmark and declare her sons illegitimate. She seems distraught by that as she offers Rhaenys the marriage of her granddaughters to her sons, respectively, and pleads with her father, asking him whether the story of Aegon's dream was really true.
The political plots are interesting but the ailing king Viserys really steals the show, he suffers terribly from some kind of disease which leaves him covered in ulcers, and while he gets milk of the poppy for the pain, Alicent and her lord father are the real rulers of the kingdom. Alicent's became very religious and installed the stars of the Seven everywhere and introduced prayers before meals. She seems understanding towards a serving maid her son took advantage of, but I am not sure whether she didn't have the girl killed behind the scenes as she doesn't appear at work the next day.
As I said, the king is the biggest star of the episode, and the scene in which he surprises everyone by walking to the throne room and then sitting on the Iron Throne is really impressive. The king has shown some pluck and courage at last, as we can guess he suffers a lot doing that since he didn't take the milk of the poppy to keep his mind clear. It is sad to watch how he has to walk all this long way to the Iron Throne alone and nobody runs to help him, only Daemon aids him to climb the throne itself at the end. Rhaenrys seems to care about her father but does not help him walk to the throne, so she is just thhinking about what is there for her to gain. He declares that Rhaenys is the one who knows best Corlys's plans about succession and a bit suprisingly, Rhaenys supports Rhaenyra, with the result of the king declaring Lucerys the heir to the Dragonstone. Corlys' brother accuses Rhaenrya's children of being bastards and the king orders his tounge to be cut off, though Daemon slices his head so that the tounge remains whole. He is not punished for that in any way so I guess it was OK with the king.
The king also orders a dinner for all the members of his family, himself included, and makes a speech calling upon them to make peace among themselves to honour him, and initially they do so, starting with Rhaenyra praising Alicent for caring for the king, and Alicent reciprocates by praising Rhaenrya as a mother, and others follow, but the words are not sincere as when the king is too weak to stay any longer, Alicent's eldest son launches a verbal attack on Rhaenyra's boys and there is a short fight.
It looks like the king is dying, and in his last words he says that the story is true, and the listener is the prince that was promised, but it is nor Rhaenryra who is listening, but Alicent. She takes it that it is the king's will that their son Aegon is to be the next ruler of Westeros, so I guess the war will begin for real in the next episode. Though the old king was quite moving this episode, still supportive of his daughter and wanting his whole family to make peace. Also, the story of Aegon's dreams seemed to be very important to him and it was the thing he clung to in the last moments of his life.
An episode with a lot of political discussions, intrigues, observing dynamics at the court, statesmanship, discussing legal matters concerning claims. I could watch this political master class for hours although nothing else really happens. So I thought. Of course I was wrong: Daemon prefers a hands-on approach. Still not sure what to make of him. Is he a caring father, husband, brother or a cruel and untamable man? (I forgot: Alicent isn't shy to use all tools at her disposal neither if that's what it takes to defend her son's honor).
Stunning performance by the King. What a make-up! Alicent is also awesome. Still not happy with new Rhaenyra.
Is there anything else to criticize? Sure. Let me point out one issue: the frequent time jumps are dealt with as good as it is possible. Here we jump at least 3 years or so. Time warps are perhaps inevitable 'cause the show wants to tell a family chronic that possibly spans decades, but they continue to be a nuisance. I constantly feel that they deprived me of all the interesting stories that happened in between. Plus, I always need a few scenes to understand who is who and what has changed. This orientation process takes away some of the immersion. It doesn't help that they all look the same, have similar names, constantly give birth to new heirs and are fond of creating ring-shaped family trees.
Why didn't Rhaenys kill them all and end the whole situation? Then there would be no war. Was that her saying she was on their side?
If not, then this is one of the most stupid moments in the whole show.
But why would Rhaenys be on their side? When Rhaenyra is the true heir (and also will be the first queen, like she would have been).
And she might have got Driftmark for her granddaughters in a negotation with Rhaenyra instead of it passing to her bastard. But even besides that, she just had her granddaughters betrothed to Rhaenyra's sons, further sealing their alliance.
Even if Rhaenys was going to be on the greens side, she could have stopped an entire war by killing them.
How did she even get to the dragon pit past the guards.
Why aren't there any dragons protecting the kings coronation, don't they have like 5 of them?
The white worm part was rubbish.
I've been on the blacks side for a couple episodes now, and i don't like how much the show has painted the greens as the bad side and the blacks as the good side. Rhaenyra is the legitimate heir, and would be a good queen. Alicent wants Aegon king because of a misunderstanding of Visery's last words, and Aegon would seem to be a bad king. But ok, that's how things go.
If Rhaenys was undecided, then she still could have averted an entire war by killing them.
I'm guessing since she didn't say anything and flew off, she's on Rhaenyra's side.
It was a good episode overall, but the ending was stupid.
Great episode, stunning visuals as usual and beautiful music, especially at the beginning of the episode, when there is silence before the storm before the king's death is know. It was suspenseful and engrossing from the very first moment to the surprising ending. Alicent believes that Viserys wanted her son Aegon to become king and intends to have him crowned, but in spite of this, even she is a bit shocked that the rest of the council under the leadership of her lord father has been plotting to supplant Aegon as heir for some time already. One of the lords who are against this gets killed by Ser Criston. Alicent wants her son to be king but doesn't approve of the violent means her father wants to use, and is against having Rhaenyra killed as the Hand wishes.
Prince Aegon is found missing and so a compeition ensues, a sort of race who gets to him first, the Kingsguard sent by Otto or Ser Criston and Aemond acting on Alicent's orders. Apparently the woman who used to be Daemon's whore at the beginning of the season is now an influential person in the underworld, nicknamed the White Worm, and knows where the prince is. The Hand's party get him first but he escapes them and in the end the Queen's party get him, so Alicent announces her father now everything would be as she wants it. Aegon doesn't want to be king and his younger brother believes he would be more suited to rule, but in the end he brings his brother to his mother.
Alicent is an interesting character in this episode, as she takes part in the plotting but opts for a more peaceful version of the power grab that her father would prefer, hence the conflict between them. She even tries to talk Rheanys to support her in the name of peace and less bloodshed in the kingdom. Her father accuses her that she doesn't want to have Rhaenrya killed more out of liking for her as her childhood friend than because her late husband wouldn't like to have his daughter killed. Rhaenys tells her that Alicent really doesn't want the power for herself, but always for the men around her and it seems to make Alicent think a bit on this matter, though in the end she goes on with the coronation of Aegon all the same. On the other hand, she seems to be moved by her husband's death since she cries when she is alone so that it is not for show. Though she might be afraid about her position now as well. Larys offers her to kill her ladies-in-waiting and other people who may be spying for her father and it is not clear whether she agreed, though the fire in one of the buildings suggests she did.
The coronation is really visually stunning, though I am not sure whether Aegon would be a good king and wouldn't have the people who helped him get the throne killed if he has the mood, as one of the Kingsguard noticed that when he was a prince he had a proclivity for violence. Alicent asks him not to have Rhaenyra killed but I don't think he would follow his mother's advice.
The ending was surprising as one of the Kingsguard helped Rhaenys to escape from the palace where she was imprisoned, and she witnessed the coronation of Aegon dressed as one of the smallfolk, though at the end she slipped out and returned on the back of her dragon. However, instead of dracarysing everyone present, she just flew away. This was a bit disappointing as she only showed them she could have killed them but now they are alive they may have their revenge on her and her family and she may regret not using her chance to get rid of them.
I really missed Rhaenyra and Daemon, I wonder what they are up to? Hope we'll find out next episode.
1x09 - The Green Council: 8.8/10 (Great)
Following two of the season's finest episodes, “The Green Council” served as a deciding factor in determining the season's overall quality. Thankfully, it maintains the season's success and does a fantastic job setting up for the finale. What an exhilarating episode; the ominous tone that pervades throughout just serves to emphasize the story's overall gloomy tone. In contrast to the previous episodes, which mostly dealt with the characters' families and their intrigues, this one also showcases the people of King's Landing and the kingdom at large. Viserys' death was handled masterfully, moving rapidly enough to give you a sense of urgency without rushing things, and slowly enough to completely soak in every detail. I was delighted to see that they gave Alicent more ambiguity than before, as the previous episodes had been quite one-sided. There was never a dull moment, and the episode also gave the Greens—Aemond in particular—some much-deserved screen time. Alicent has been her father's pawn all along, but after talking to Rhaenys, she herself comes to terms with this fact. The shifting power dynamics will make it interesting to see how far Alicent and Otto succeed in driving a wedge between one other as they each strive to shepherd Aegon through his reign. Though this episode's primary function was to set the stage for future events, it nevertheless managed to deliver a satisfying payoff, especially in the episode's closing five minutes. Unlike “Game of Thrones,” “House of the Dragon” has an abundance of dragons and dragon riders and if the closing sequence is any indication, the battle for succession will be ferocious, since dragons will be on both sides. If I were to pick apart this episode, it would be that the CGI could have used a little more work. However, the showrunners have taken the wise decision, in my opinion, to save the most of the Dragon Fighting for the following season, which will presumably have a much larger budget and considerably better CGI.
I love that Serena felt immediately worthless when she found herself in a position of a handmaid. Even when it is herself, she is brainwashed AF, she can't stop believing "God's will" lies and treat herself as shit unconsciously. It's sad how a totalitarian patriarchal theocracy traps your mind. It was funny though watching how Serena met medicine and evolution.
It was also nice how June, as a woman, was forgiving and didn't seek revenge from mother at the cost of a baby (possibly thought about it), but Luke went just directly there. I don't say it wasn't justifiable but I feel like writers put a little nuance there about the way men seeking revenge/power, maybe? After all, Gilead is born because of men who wanted a power game for a bunch of men.
The only problem was I couldn't make sense the flashback scenes. As if Serena and June were besties at first and shared a connection? All those feely glances? I'm OK with Serena bouncing between empathetic and heartless, but I don't remember there was such a friendly vibe between them at S01. The Serena that I know of would feel conflicted after the handmaid's death, but also be outraged by June's glance and would never show June her guilt. I don't mind if writers are trying to push us an alliance (it's still a bit rushed), but it is weird when they try to change the past to support it.
I like that they added a character that doesn’t want to help with The Callings, or tries to use it to his advantage. It’s more realistic that not everyone would cooperate. However, Michaela showed how naive she is. I wish she’d use her detective brain and outsmart people more.
I’m really liking Zeke and hope he stays in the picture as a friend and confidant.
I find Jared really annoying. He’s immediately going into jerk mode to Zeke for no reason. Seriously, if his so-called relationship with Michaela is on the rocks it’s his own fault. Zeke had no part of it.
While I don’t mind Olive helping, I find Grace’s involvement is hypocritical. And she still doesn’t add anything to the show. I feel like the show is trying but I’d rather they just get rid of her.
I do find Cal’s involvements in the episodes a little wishy washy. Sometimes they make him seem like he knows everything and other times he plays stupid. Pick a lane.
And am I the only one shipping Saanvi and Ben? Since the beginning I felt the have good chemistry. Plus, they like each other as friends at least. Not sure if it was intentional but I feel like there could be a slow build up of a relationship. I hope so.
The cgi wolf looks silly. I don’t even think they needed it. Just have Michaela hearing the snarling then turn and looked freaked out. We can easily figure it out. It’s an easy way for the show to save money for when they need it.
Overall alright episode. I’m still not sure why it’s this big thing that Jared is looking up Zeke’s fingerprints. Michaela already knows who he is - she saw the missing poster remember? So Jared’s going to find out what she knows...so who cares?
Feels like a way just to create drama. I’d rather more time and energy was put into the mysteries - the weekly and the ones about the Returned.
Matt Long put on quite the captivating performance in this episode. He's easily the best actor out of everyone, both in the main cast as well as everyone else, and I mean everyone, barely significant role, hardly any lines spoken, minor appearance, you name it. He was a great addition to the show. It'll be a real shame if Zeke does end up dying, and won't come back somehow. I'm fine with it if he dies but comes back. If the first part of that happens and the second part, the most important, doesn't happen, there will be a problem.
Anyway, to the episode itself. It was a good one. I enjoyed it. There was hardly any of the...I don't know what you'd call it, supernatural-perhaps not so supernaturalness, which includes the Callings. There was a lot more of everything else, whatever you'd call that. Most of you probably know what I'm talking about. And honestly, I think that was a good thing this time around. Beforehand, it was rarely that captivating, just decent enough, with the Calling-of-the-week being the upside of each episode. And in this episode, everything that wasn't related to a Calling was engaging, surprisingly. But I can understand why episodes such as this one wouldn't be that favorable for some people. Some of those same people were probably drawn to this show because of the premise, and now that hasn't been dwelled on as much as when it all started. I can see how that could begin getting on people's nerves, straining their patience and testing their ability to keep watching, possibly to no avail from their perspective. And while I'm not also particularly keen towards this immense focus on everything but what the show is more specifically about, I do think it is somewhat necessary to keep the show going. It is unwise to compare it to other shows with similar premises that didn't focus so much on everything else. This show is its especial work of fiction. If you dislike it, you dislike it. That's your prerogative.
Moving on, hahaha, sorry for that lengthy paragraph. I'm by no means calling anyone out for disliking this episode or this show, particularly because of the lesser focus on the premise, what I'm assuming drew most people in, and if you're still watching, what you're still watching for. I completely understand your point of view and I'm somewhat within that point of view as well. I'm just less affected by the lack of what the show's all about, I guess. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the season (hopefully not series) finale. This show hasn't been enjoyable in the way one would expect based on the premise, but I've been liking it a lot. And if the show gets canceled, that would probably cause me to realize that I liked it even more than I currently think I do.
Overall, funny but offensive in some ways that are important, in others just mean. I also find it frustrating certain things seem to get more public attention than others. But the comments in general about trans people come off as the "crazy racist uncle" trope of yesteryear who Chappelle himself would mock when they'd excuse themselves by parading their one black friend as if it was an excuse.
I won't even attempt to excuse his mean spirited jokes about the trans community. Whilst his friend may have loved them it's still the sort of thing that wounds people enough to drive them to what I hope he doesn't wish on anybody else.
Some jokes didn't land at all for me, the "antisemetic" joke for instance. I don't get what was funny or offensive about it, probably because I just simply don't get what he's referencing, neither did my Jewish husband. Either way it seemed odd and out of place among everything else. It just made no sense to me at all.
All in all, my viewing experience is probably very different to that of someone who is trans. So I can't and don't think anybody other than trans people should be saying whether it's transphobic/offensive or not.
I'm very conflicted about this as I love Chappelle and feel awful about what happened to his friend. But I know that if he were a white man making the same kinds of jokes about a black person I would be upset, too.
