Hap is monstrous for what he's doing to these people. Homer (Emory Cohen), is tragic, sad, indeed Homer being the lynchpin and Hap mercilessly using him to manipulate the others, break the trust between them... just ugh! Jason Isaacs is doing a magnificent job of making me loathe this character.
The OA is amazing. She's amazing. The 'movements' and the celestial portal... yeah, I'm down. I get it. I SCREAMED when I got it!!!! And regardless of what he's done, Homer remained a soldier and a believer in what they were doing.
Oh this show just slipped into a whole level of weirdness that I super appreciate. The OA, who as I previously noted, while appearing to everyone else to be 'unhinged', is proving to be a strong, tough, relentless pursuer and believer in love and freedom and truth. At the end of this episode, we see just how strong and truly powerful she is.
Oh my, what a good episode this was! Oh how I loathe Hap, but one has to ask this question: If we are working with the holographic universe model, and that which is observed changes to produce the effect that the observer requires, desires, or simply as a reaction to being observed, how much of what is happening with these five people is being made possible by the evil, twisted, horrible, disgusting, awful Hap Hunter?
Oh my... This is certainly one of the best written shows I've seen in awhile. As weird as the ride has been, it's remained consistent and engrossing throughout.
I get how this would never have worked on network television, but finds a perfect niche with the Netflix crowd. Long live the Internet!
This episode is a bridge. It cements the link between all six of the group, it creates a fundamental break between The OA and her parents, while at first seeming to forge it.
Brit Marling continues to be exceptional in her performance, and in the writing of the screenplay. Although we have no Dastardly Hap to hate, we find ourselves losing some sympathy for Nancy, and gaining immense respect for 'BBA', who not only goes to mat, she puts everything she has on the line for Steve.
Steves breakthrough, while at first seeming to be a betrayal, allows The OA to really shine.
I love seeing the team learn the five movements, and how naturally Steve learns the movements, similar to the way The OA and Homer form a strong understanding around the first two movements.
I am deeply impressed with this show. I understand there are some folks who apparently don't 'get' it. It's ok. Those of us that 'get it', 'get it'. It's just not for you. It's clearly for us.
Exceptional episode, that perfectly preps for the finale.
Well ok! Now we're getting somewhere.
Although, one could not reasonably expect all the answers in episode two, the second episode rapidly advances the story and we finally start to get a sense of why The OA is so seemingly 'unhinged'.
At last, the 'villain' appears. I am also finding the growing byplay between the characters and their rough sketches interesting as well. We get only a little of that in this episode, but I am curious as to what their role is and why The OA needs them to be there. Brit Marling, who plays The OA, and produced, and mostly wrote, is doing an excellent job of conveying all of this character's many textures. While she appears unhinged, she also appears perfectly calm, resigned, aware and purposeful.
I am absorbed as her five listeners to her unfolding tale, and while there are no bells and whistles, this is a story being told in performance and writing, I am immensely curious as to why Hap's creepy serial killer like self is really about. As weirdness goes, this is not Twin-peakish, but it's certainly weird-as-all-out in a very human kind of way.
On to the next episode.
I've just got around to watching the finale, and as a practitioner of the ATRS, it is incumbent upon to register my disappointment in the production team and @RonDMoore for producing this racist shit for television.
There are any number of ways they could have portrayed the African Traditional Religions, however they chose Hollywood's white washed view of MY religious traditions, instead of anything like historical accuracy, or for that matter anything congruent with truth.
There are any number of practitioners that could have advised them, but they chose to prey upon the traditional view of Europeans towards African religions instead of treating it with respect. I am so disappointed in their handling of this portion of the story, it's my lowest rated episode of this show, ever.
And after three seasons, I find myself questioning this show's integrity. Just to be clear: the kind of hodgepodge shit that you portrayed on screen borrowed from several traditions and did not portray any of them fairly or accurately.
#disappointedasfuck in all of them. The ATRs are not some hodgepodge you can borrow from to colour your story without committing to accuracy. How could they get it so wrong in 2017?
By far the most illuminated episode of the season thus far. Clearly they are now working hard to get the fifth movement, they're to the point where they want the experiment and are participating, but the dread of Hap finding out becomes now possibly the thing that's holding them back.
Jason Isaacs plays Hap with an almost palpable sense of his rationalisations for his psychosis. Yet, without him there would be no story, right?
The OA continues to show her grit and determination, Homer continues to be the other focal point. Yet, the other three... we get almost nothing about them other than Hap's machinations to enslave Renata in the last episode, and we're two episodes from the end of this season (or whatever the hell Netflix calls these binge watches) my point is, the other three are still sketches.
Still, it's hard to fault the story. The pacing is excellent and remains consistent through all the episodes I've seen so far, and I am really enjoying Brit Marling's performance. She wrote this character for herself and it shows just how deeply she is into the work that The OA is really all you see on screen. I'm very impressed with the way she's built this story, and the execution, although it's not flashy, it's really well done.
With two episodes to go to the close of this clutch of episodes (I like 'clutch' better than 'season' for Netflix stuff), I'm very much curious to see how this comes to a close, and if we will be tortured for another season, the way we're being tortured for more Sense8 episodes.
Still, what a treat this has been to watch.
Right now... Delores and Maeve are my girls. I have all the feels for 'em.
Golly... wild how the awful music this season has grown on me. Especially the closing theme.
Ralph Angel's transformation over the course of this season has been beautiful. I was moved to tears in the final moments of the finale to see him come so far from where we found him in episode one. Kofi Siriboe's growth over these 13 episodes has just been beautiful and restorative to watch.
Miss Charlie though... I still don't know if I'm horrified or proud that she literally bet the farm, left Prince Charming hanging, manipulated a 'friend' to declare her own sovereign state. Dawn-Lyen Gardner's performance has in my opinion the most consistent of the three leads.
Nova... I am left wanting more. I'm not sure what it is, but of all of the performances on this show, her's is the only one that doesn't quite sit right with me. The last episode's nonsense invoking Oshun... after I had a massive belly laugh, I asked out loud why Ava Duvernay couldn't have asked someone a question instead of making up some shit to say.
However, my issues with Nova's character, narrative and in particular Rutina Wesley's performance, aren't limited to just this. There's just something that doesn't feel right about it. I may be able to articulate what that is eventually, but right now I'm noting that something is just off. That said, Wesley is stunningly beautiful, and despite the little quirks in her portrayal she's got an (over) expressive face that's often a pleasure to watch.
Quiet as it's kept, there's some quietly epic stuff going on with this show. It's been a season of some great writing and character development on this show. I'm very eager to know when the next season is due to air. I also think I am adding this to my rewatch list. I can see myself really going hard on all thirteen episodes some week when spring 2017 starts to warm up properly, and Being Mary Jane's next season wraps up.
The arrival of Andy! This show kicks off at his point of entry...
Such pitched drama! I was almost in tears when Petal got lost!!
As a writer who has used my life, named names, and unapologetically written about my experiences with my friends and family, quite frankly, I appreciate and understand why Nova has done what she's done.
But damn... I also know the cost. I know exactly what it cost me to do it. I don't have even a fraction of the closeness with my family that these characters do, so I know this will lead to one of two things:
Catharsis or Cut and Burn.
I see ALL the drama for this season laid out for us.
https://www.thegoddessroom.com/blog/2019/08/10/queen-sugar-4x01-pleasure-is-black/
I've watched the entire series multiple times, regardless of my Trakt count, and this is always one of the most heartbreaking. Everyone's grief is so palpable, and Sybill's character such a softening middle ground... the aftermath so very nearly sundering.
Alas... the sweetest sprite is gone.
One of this show's best episodes in terms of performance.
I saw that coming... Bernard was clearly a host from the nature of the conversations he was having with Delores. This was an exceptional piece of story development though.
I watched this episode literally in tears for portions of it... this was an amazing, well written, well acted, heartbreaking episode.
Excellent start! Kofi Siriboe is stunningly beautiful and delivers such a nuanced but electric performance. Wasn't as impressed with Dawn-Lyen Gardner, but Rutina Wesley is also turning in an interesting performance. I want to see where they go with the script, but this was a good start. Waiting for tonight's episode.
Oh Elliot... I'm rooting for your crazy ass.
The crow flies straight... a perfect line.
So many emotions! I cried more than once... I love the character growth on this show, and the writing is getting better and better every season.
My boy Earn... progress sometimes looks like a storage locker and $200 extra.
In a world that holds almost no space for the mental health of people of colour, and especially black women and children, this movie was a simple and beautiful story...
It didn't need to be complicated, but it was nice to see a story where the black boy isn't trying to be 'hard', but trying to find equilibrium. Anthony Anderson's performance is in many ways, the subtle glue here... the 'real man' and the bridge for August to find his way back into the world.
Simple and beautiful... it's a good watch, with a feel good ending.
Although the premise of the show was wearing thin with so little to go on in terms of why, this episode is frustrating in you get more with no concrete answers.
I adore the Reilly Dolman's Phillip; his performance the most nuanced of the cast. He is so handsome in an off kilter manner, he is the only character I find engrossing.
Everyone else, and everything else on this show feels off. It's almost like it's trying too hard to be edgy, and without either the visual texturing or special effects to shore up some very obvious plot devices, I find myself wondering if I am going to make it through the rest of this season.
However, I am not a fan of procedural shows, and I know this is colouring my take on this. Either way, this show is lacking some kind of oomph.
Plus there's the obvious question, "If they're trying to save the world, and there are lots of teams running around surreptitiously working to do this, if they reach some critical mass event wouldn't they and the technology they're using all cease to exist? How would they 'get back to their own timeline, or are all these people expected to be stranded where they are'?"
Time travel paradoxes are already popping up with this, and it's episode five. I'm just not sure how much I can suspend my disbelief.
It's engaging enough for me to see what happens in the next episode, but skating on thin ice. I'd still watch a dozen episodes of Quantum Leap, because I like my time travel with some real human connections. I like all my sci fi this way. This is what I think is missing in this show. It's so busy with the premise, that there's almost no real human connection. Either to the team we're following, or with the mysterious 'Future', or with the people supposedly being saved.
Without that, I'm just not interested enough in anyone other than Phillip.
That's the sound of the man, working on the chain gang... #GoVan
Oh I am soooooo glad they kicked Acid Betty to the curb! Lawdamercy... couldn't stand her snarky, superior, arrogant self. Yay for Bob The Drag Queen!!
This looks interesting... First episode is well constructed.
This show is VERY entertaining. I am endlessly fascinated with anime’s ability to make a story out of anything. It makes for a more compelling contrast to typical Western fare, which rules out stories simply because they want to appeal to a mean audience.
Anime for me is like an anathema to this... The strangest and most outlandish stories are made into gripping drama, laughs, tears, emotional growth... and it could be a show about ANYTHING.
At any rate, this has been an entertaining six episodes. The writing is good to keep me very much keen to see what happens next. These little punk boys are one of the best stories I’ve seen this year.
I want to see Takemichi’s rage crumble in the next episode, and still manage to keep his immediate goal from falling apart. I also like how every episode manages to advance to overall plot just a little bit more. I’m also amazed how much damn story they manage to fit into 20 odd minutes.
On with the story!
I just finished watching “The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson”... spent the last twenty minutes or so with tears running down my face. Unexpectedly, it was Sylvia Rivera’s story, woven into the larger tale that broke my heart. Islam Nettles story too, illustrates how little has changed for transgendered women since Marsha’s body was found.
I found myself unsurprised about the double elimination... that was truly an uninspired lipsync to a GAY ANTHEM!!! WTH!
Slow paced, this screenplay was not only predictable, it was largely one dimensional in character scope, rote and almost mundane in its execution.
I fear they’re doing Siriboe dirty by refusing to give him much to stretch himself against. He feels almost typecast here, and despite him displaying a broader range of emotions that he normally does on Queen Sugar, he still didn’t feel real. He sure is pretty to watch on anything though.
The hair and make up, costume design and lighting in the film were impeccable though. I wanted to shop in the wardrobe department, cop earrings, steal shoes...
Gosh... but the way I shouted at the immaturity of the characters! Why allyuh nuh talk, nah? It presents this Black relationship in this very flat, uninspired way, and the characters their choices and motivations seemed so familiar... oh wait. lovejones wore it better and came to a better conclusion.
The final fifteen minutes felt rushed, to the point of abrupt end. That made me feel that much of what went previously should have been better condensed and structured to allow for some kind of end that didn’t leave a brassy taste in my mouth.
Skip this...
Hilarious! How can you not get it. It's hilarious! I cackled.
The whole sequence when they crept away from the wedding, the mountain lion and the sex scene, was hilarious!
Also, his character, despite his dour protestations, is INCREDIBLY SWEET. From his first word to her to that annoying noise he was making just before she opened the door.
Just very funny... I liked it a lot.
