The acting of Ewan was phenomenal. He really sold the PTSD broken Jedi. The chemistry between Ben and Leia felt real and reminded me of the banter Obi-wan had with Anakin, Ahsoka and Rex. I smiled when rusty ben gets help from fearless little Leia. The intro of Vader was chilling and he looked and sounded exactly as I remembered. We even got some lore and name dropping. I'm really sorry that I have to say this but I do feel like they fumbled on the landing.
I get that Darth Vader wanted to make Obi-wan suffer and wanted to take his time, but this is only 10 years after their duel. He should have been way more unhinged and certainly would have had no problem in preventing Obi-wan's escape. Simple force crush of the loader would have been enough. Sorry but anything other than a vehicle getting them out of there at high speed is bad writing ( like they evaded Maul in episode 1 ). Vader searched the entire galaxy for a decade and he's now being stopped by 5m of fire in between two over sized molehills?
Second huge question is how Reva got to the pilot first? Was there a shortcut that Tala and Leia didn't take ? Why did they take the long way round ? Did Revan meet Tala on her way back and then did a forcerun flash to pass Leia ?
I don't expect Star Wars to be Godfather quality but I really hope they explain those things.
It's not easy to describe this without giving away spoilers so excuse me if I'm sometimes vague. This is a mystery-drama. You get that 1 WTF moment in the pilot and each episode you learn something more about it. To fill in the episodes they use truckloads of drama. 5 main characters in the main story and 2 characters in the side story.
Simmons does an excellent job in the mystery department and is very strong supporting the drama where Spacek rules. Both maybe give us one of their top 5 best performances ever. The supporting actors also win you over in a way that even the very tough topics like growing old and dependent, depression and family bonds get mixed in without it becoming a downer for the viewer.
The writing is excellent and keeps you guessing, it hints but then turns out different as you expected without losing credibility. Of course you'll have to suspend reality a bit for the mystery aspect but the show respects the rules it sets.
Because of the pace and the chosen topics I don't think this will score with teenagers but people with some life experience will be able to relate much better. You've seen shows like this before but never with this quality of writing or acting.
Why do american shows always do this ? Jesse, Walter and Saul are the good , the bad and the ugly.
That Jesse gets away and gets a new start is a bit wishful thinking but I can accept it.
The arc of Walter who does things out of desperation, then breaks bad and then finally comes to his senses is also believable. Sacrificing himself to at least get his student/protégé free was also in his long term character.
But then we get McGill who was a drifter his ENTIRE life, tries to do better but eventually goes of the rails when Kim leaves. He became ugly, he enjoyed the success and tried his best to stay out of prison. This is a guy who was ready to hit a cancer patient over the head,or even strangle an old lady to escape. He was so angry and resentful at Kim he damn near broke the payphone ( for someone that never gets psychical the entire show ) . Him getting a sentence of 190 years down to 7.5 years was completely in his skill set and character.
But we can't have the bad guys win like in real life do we. So we let the ugly man get his redeeming moment and fall on his sword for the love of his life. I'm glad many people like it but I call BS. Those final moments cost the entire series at least a point in my review.
Personally I would have preferred he got his 7.5 years and as he is walking away with a big smile on his face gets shot by either Kim or one of the many widows, heck even shanked in country club prison by the cartel would have been better although VERY predictable.
The best ending would have been that he walked on a technicality. Nobody would have seen that coming, very realistic and at least it wouldn't have been so damn sweet. Free but poor and totally alone, a life sentence on its own.
I was already a huge fan of this show but this episode really drove home how good the writing on this show is.
Every episode has a quote you can take to the bank. "Security is an illusion", "Win and walk away", "The axe forgets, but the tree remembers", etc so i caught myself actually cheering at the TV for this week's gem.
This episode has nearly no action at all but I was either completely immersed in the world building, the dialogue or the scheming. I really can't understand why people label it as slow when the quality and pacing is on par with Breaking Bad, Ozarks or House of the Dragon. Heck compared to The Old Man this show is a race car.
I needed to rewind a couple of times just to catch everything and it is one of a few shows where I can see the episode again, just days later ( I think this will be an excellent show to binge ) Every time I catch something extra.
The moment they show the K-2S0 droids got me the same feeling I had when I first saw The Terminator in '86. This show is everything an adult fan could ever hope for. Even Mon Mothma is being fleshed out into a much more interesting character than the clone wars did. Fingers crossed we get a Gerrera Guerrilla arc, Forest Whitaker would be ideal in this show based on his recent work in Godfather of Harlem
From the writing ,the acting to the set builders, this is top quality Star Wars. Can you imagine the level this show could reach if they introduced an actual Jedi ( they kinda did though cough, wink, wink ) or fan favorites like Alan Tudyck ( K-2SO )
As a life long SW fan I would rather watch this than Kenobi again. This episode is a solid 8 for me.
I watched every episode of Supernatural because when it aired it was something new and refreshing. It was "The Boys" of its time. For years we were stuck with female oriented supernatural stuff. From the Scream franchise ... they clobbered to death over Buffy, Angel and even Lucifer, it was always love and relationships.
Sam & Dean were beer drinking, burger eating, rocking badasses! Relationships were more like a Bond movie. Instead we got banter with Bobby, Cas and Cromwell. Episodes of them breaking the forth wall or even Scooby-Doo tribute were legendary.
So I checked out the pilot and they cover a part that was already told in the original series. Without any explanation they changed that. I can't be bothered to look it up, but they also changed a LOT of lore. Introduced the most boring arc of the Original with the Men of Letters in such a tempo it had my head spinning. They don't speak like in the seventies, they don't act like that time and they don't dress the part. I know it's low budget but come on.
Now if that was needed to deliver a kickass spin off, I would have forgiven it, but then they showed us the supporting characters. A person of color and a dandy. I'm all for inclusion but both felt like the bare minimum to meet the quota. Either you go woke or you don't, this just pisses of everybody.
This pilot is something my son would have turned in as homework, something with minimal effort to get a passing grade.They even go hunting in a van like the Scooby-Doo gang. I was really looking forward to this but this only damages the original in my book
I know it's cool to hate on this show so I waited a few episode to give them a fighting chance.
If LOTR was a cake your grandma made, then the Hobbit was a store bought cake. This show is a wedding cake: very expensive, looks amazing, but inside is the most boring generic cake.
If you are going to modernize it anyway, then why bother buying the rights to the best known fantasy franchise. Tolkien was already on the edge of political correct thinking when Peter Jackson made his movies. It's like buying a hippy van, stripping everything but the chassis and then installing an electrical engine when you could just have bought the new E van.
I'll probably end up watching the entire first season but at no point does it feel like the same universe. In fact as soon as I started to watch this show like I did with The Orville ( close to Star Trek but not it ) I could actually enjoy Durin, Elrond and Arondir.
Amazon if you are reading this, next season cut 25% of the gfx department and hire a few solid writers. I won't miss a few waterfalls in the background when I'm focused on the dialogue, or Valar forbid, some action.
I watched every episode,every tedious minute of drama to follow a story. There were times I stayed up late and watched AMC live through a website just to avoid spoilers. I even checked out the spin-offs but I only got hooked on FTWD.
Just to say I once loved the show, but the show was rinse repeat since The Governor. Neegan was the last decent bad guy and the cast losing 3 major characters didn't help ( ok ... okay, Maggie came back after that spy flop).
I kept on it even though I couldn't care less about the 4th generation ( sorry Luke ) but after finally catching up I am angry. We never found out why the zombies came ( interview says Space ) , what happened to Rick nor Michonne. What is the super organized faction with the helicopters ? etc.
You expect us to fork over even more cash to go watch a movie ? Push that part of the actual story telling to the spin-offs ?
This was 12 year looking at gore and special FX but we never got ANY answers. Sorry but this final was even worse than the one for Dexter or Lost, heck it wasn't even one of the better season finals.
At the end of the day people watch a movie or a show for the same reasons. For a story. If you can't answer the basic questions after 10+ seasons, you failed.
I baptized this second season as Vikings Economy. I haven't checked the budget but it all felt like they had to make do with a lot less money. The production quality has stayed the same but no more big battles or big crowds.
England, and its political intrigue has taken a step back and they also reduced the religious visions.
Religion is still a part of it but we only get 1 "supernatural" scene and most of the time the audience gets spoon fed what the gods think instead of showing us the visions.
Same for London, it is still is part of the show but the focus of this season is on the 3 heroes.
The Freydis story was rather tedious. I hoped we'd at least get to see a more historical accurate part of her life but I guess Flix isn't ready for a pregnant topless shield maiden yet.
I did like the story of Harald and Leif, it reminded me a LOT of The Last Kingdom.
Overall still worth a watch, if you are a fan, but if next season is the last (Netflix has a tendency for 3 season shows) then I hope they crank it up to 11 for the end
I'm a bit late to the party but I finally came around to watching both seasons. From what I read it reminded me of the movie Kids (1995) but this time for my son's generation.
It's a high quality drama that doesn't shy away from the tough aspects of present day teen life. The story arc of Rue ( Zendaya ) is mainly focused on loss and the mental health and opioid epidemic. Amazing acting from her where she really wins you over with a kind of Will Smith likeability and then switches to a really convincing drug fiend.
Another great arc is that of Jules. Instead of the usual trans pity party we just get to see her character in a love triangle where one of the players just happens to be in transition. This allows you to know her not only as a trans woman and all the issues that come with it, but also leaves room for the silly, funny and romantic . I think her performance was at least on par with Zendaya's and I really think it'll help create more acceptance with people who aren't personally involved in a trans person's life.
I also liked the arc for Lexi and Kat but the latter almost disappears in the second season. Wasted chance because the online life of teens offers something new we didn't have in the nineties.
However the show also makes it clear that the current woke movement is very selective and at times absurd. On one side it is so woke that for example a parody of sleeping beauty needs a consent form from the "prince" and on another the show uses sex and nudity on a level that's damn near exploitative. As a European I'm not easily shocked but at times it feels like they are using every opportunity to show you a penis, but almost never female full frontal, even if the situation calls for it. In a certain scene everybody is ordered to strip and all the guys get naked but only one woman. It's just weird, especially since we have the body acceptance movement . Maybe that was removed due to MeToo ? Of course most of us know easier ways to see nudity, but you don't bring balance by going completely overboard to the other side.
Last example is the type of relations they show : from asexual to pansexual and every flavor in between. I don't mind diversity until you realize that the only heterosexual relationships they show are either classified as "Toxic" or "Boring". Is it that much to ask to show one (1) household with 2 parents or at least make 1 father not a complete psycho, ghost or a junkie.
Representation is indeed very important and in the past it was all geared towards white guys, but there are still white boys being born who also need a role model. Again you can't correct the mistakes of the past by making new ones in the opposite direction.
I can't wait for season 3 and i can highly recommend it but I sure am glad the entire PC movement was only just starting when I was a teenager. "sounding like a twitter thread" sure sounds like a lot of work.
In short, for the TL;DR crowd, this is True Detective Down under.
I wanted to check this show out because of Fimmel and he again delivered with the acting. I was hoping he didn't run into snakes in this show.
It took me 4 days to watch 6 episodes and that is a sign. Not that it's bad, but it's more like a wedding cake; Delicious but after 1, max 2 pieces your body needs time to digest.
It is slow with a mediocre start and great middle part, but a rather disappointing ending. They set up a long story along the way, so I'll check out the next season, but the payoff was a little meh. I don't mind it being a slow burner but when you introduce new facts in the 5th episode, have story lines end up in complete duds and have to rely on a few coincidences you lose marks in my book.
if 0 is a stupid American cop show, where you can guess who did it by betting on the 1 guest actor who can actually act
and
10 is a British mini series where you have to go read 2 Wikipedia entries and watch a 20 min YouTube video to figure out who did it, AFTER the actor explained it on the show.
Then this is a 6.
This is more for people who like Drama about sensitive subjects than for amateur sleuths. I gave it a 6 BUT with potential.
