Jeez, the snowflaky reactions of straight white men because not every single episode and narrative centres them - anything deviating from that priority is apparently "woke". Get over yourselves, you egomaniacal bigots.
Anyway, another great episode that nicely expanded Ellie's backstory - bonus points for the Mortal Kombat II appreciation, too :nerd:
He's back ! Vader enters the picture and immediately the heat is literally turned up. One shot, one breath of him has more weight as ten minutes from the Third Sister.
I had not imagined that him and Obi-Wan would meet that early. And now we have the question of continuity. There has to be another meeting because that one could not have been what Vader was describing in Ep IV (with Obi-Wan being the Master and he the apprentice). Yes, those things matter to me. But as one-sided as the duel here was it had me on the edge of my seat. The lightsabers in the dark, the musical score, Vaders voice - that was an amazing sequence.
How on earth did Reva get past Leia ? There is one tunnel leading to where the pilot was waiting and she had to pass Leia to get there first. Yet she was there waiting, the pilot already dead.
All in all by far the best episode. Obi-Wan talking about Padme and his memories of his own family was another great scene.
Now I'm hyped.
I think I see the need for last episode now, but I still assert this show would be much more interesting if it could be entirely sitcom.
My issue is that I don’t entirely see this series as more than an experiment. As we see more and more, Wandavision is little more than doses of things we’ve seen elsewhere: Truman Show, Annihilation, Pleasantville, Inception. It makes for something decently interesting, but it brings up a branding problem that it feels as though it’s fighting really hard to course-correct. Marvel has built a brand mercilessly for nearly thirteen years now and although we were given the heads up that Phase 4 was going to get a little more out there, I’m not sure how this is correlating yet. When I think Marvel, I’m not sure something like Wandavision is what I’m expecting/wanting and yet when I think of weird, surrealist cinema Wandavision doesn’t really reach the depths of brilliance there either because it has to retain elements of the MCU when it could be David Lynch directs Marvel if they’d run with it.
As Cosmonaut Marcus writes, "It was whatever."
There are some important messages but no revelations, lessons or challenges. Falcon just hears Bradley say, "don't do it", and does it and does fine, because...? So he had self-doubt, hears more doubt from someone else, but does it anyway?
SCORE 5/10
Interesting cast so far. The main actress isn't well known to me but I spotted a few familiar faces. Harry Loyd from Doctor Who (Family of Blood). The stunningly beautiful Kylie Bunbury from Pitch but I first remember her in Twisted. Klaus (Joseph Morgan) from The Originals. Dutch from Killjoys. A weird blonde G.I. Jane.
I aspire to have as much energy at 74 as Meryl Streep does.
I think we can all agree that Ben was actually talking to like a plate of cookies off camera and not a person in his dressing room. The question is then, who put them there and were they spiked?
Anyone else get Lucille and Buster Bluth vibes from Cliff and Donna?
“I come from television so I was trained to not question a script.”
Everything is not what it seems, so, I don't think Kimber did it, it is too soon to reveal the killer. I expect next episode they'll focus on Kimber but towards the end, focus will shift to someone else.
Meryl Streep and Ashley Park's voices in that lullaby was so great. Season 3 is amazing so far.
“I can’t cry.” “Why? Are you on Xanax?”
Theory: what if the two attempts on Ben's life were committed by two different people, potentially with unrelated motives?
I really liked Jesse and Selena's chemistry.
This was really endearing, lots of cute moments.
In most other shows I'd find it ridiculous to have characters get married after knowing each other for only three days but everyone in TUA is just unhinged enough for something like this to work. And I'm always here for the "let's have a party before the world ends" trope.
I like that they finally gave new Ben some depth, took them long enough!
Reginald being nice (or at least pretending to) is totally weirding me out and I'm loving it.
Klaus is definetely carrying this season so far.
Everytime Allison spoke I could not help but roll my eyes. The adaucity to not even accept Viktor's apology which in no way she even deserved... ugh. Her emotions are very much justified, I don't blame her at all for grieving and being angry but after forcing herself on Luther and not even apologizing for it and then going on to murder Harlan in cold blood, I just cannot stand looking at her anymore. She's irredeemable.
I feel like I watch a lot of TV, and don't think I've ever seen any of these actors before (I'll check later), but my first impressions of them as "lesser known", is that they're all pretty good.
A lot of shows end up with bad no-name actors, but I don't think any of these ones are bad, it's pretty impressive.
Edit:Excluding the sheriff of course.
I've really enjoyed the first 2 episodes, while others seems to more uncertain. But this is the first episode I've been worried overall about the series. The modern underworld story just isn't interesting enough - I was kinda hoping we would see more Boba Fett the Bounty Hunter, not this form of a makeshift leader.
The humans grafting droid parts onto themselves, is a new concept in the Star Wars visual world, to my knowledge but it was executed so poorly. It's the first time I've looked at anything in the Disney SW era, and thought, "that doesn't look like Star Wars".
I'm not sure where this series is really going but EP4 needs to pick up the modern underworld story in a big way.
The action sequence was running a bit long but otherwise another solid episode.
I'm surprised there wasn't another way to relieve the steam pressure. Was that just a story tool to generate tension? You would think the builders would incorporate a way to make repairs in case they are needed. Otherwise they were either pretty sure the generator would run forever or they never anticipated it runs so long. Weird.
Did you notice the moment they switched to the back-up the screen showed a healthy, green environment outside ? No coincidence I say.
Bernard is hiding something, he is a much more important player in the tale. Unfortunately I was sure the moment the major opened up to the deputy her clock was running out.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm really enjoying how toned down the violence is, because it really grounds the experience. Yeeting him off a second story catwalk and onto rebar is spectacle, but a simple stab wound in a quiet encounter really drives home how high the stakes are when the violence is so mundane. When it comes without spectacle or massive budgets. It reminds people of what violence actually is and forces them to connect with the intimacy of it, and I think this is something that's been a long time coming. I'm not the type to blame media for society's ills, but I do believe it could be doing more to impress upon people the consequences and nuance of violence, and The Last Of Us is a masterclass in this kind of storytelling.
The first 3/4s of this episode are so generic and full of plot holes that I felt compelled to write a review. Every time Galadriel appears I feel I'm watching Mulan... The music can be so generic and underwhelming sometimes... Random 12-hour charge from the ships to save a village they had no idea it existed and was attacked in the first place. Randomly the queen knows Isildur very well and somehow, she decides: "oh yeah kid, go and fight because you're itching for battle with 0 experience", and oooh so it happens he rushes and his dad is in peril!... wtf???!!! are you for real? Same bullshit fight with the elf and the huge orc while Bronwyn coming to save him was so predictable... This is the worst episode of all so far. I'm sure Disney would've done a better job. The good like always are the costumes and the makeup, great looking orcs. last part of the episode is good, and leaves us with a cliffhanger. I wonder if they'll finally deliver next week
[7.5/10] A quality start to the new season. This episode functions well as a "getting the gang back together" outing which is almost always fun. I like the subversion of self-possessed Mariner needing to learn to trust the system for once and, more to the point, rely on her friends rather than trying to take on everything all herself. Plus seeing her become vulnerable and worried over her mom is wholesome and endearing. And as always, the Easter eggs and homages are a lot of fun, especially the historical theme park in Bozeman, Montana, where they even got James Cromwell to reprise his role as Zefram Cochrane!
The people complaining about Vanya transitioning to Viktor should probably just stop watching and spare the rest of us. It doesn't take away from the story, the show's literal creator embraced it, why can't that be good enough?
Oh damn that scene with Vanya and #1. Lay it out plain - don't fuck with her!
Will be interesting to see how she becomes Viktor but damn they could have given Elliot a better wig for the start of this. It's really good he was comfortable enough to play out the Vanya parts of the season though.
Absolutely incredible, one of the most heartbreaking moments in the Breaking Bad universe. Never in a million years I'd have expected something like this - always thought Howard was the safest character.
Nacho's death was sort of easy to process since there was so much vindication and control about it, but this was the polar opposite - Howard gets ridiculed, only to then get offed basically for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When Lalo looked at the cockroach, I instantly knew he'd look for Jimmy, just never expected it being so soon. Visual storytelling at its finest.
With this episode, I realized I also changed my perspective on Saul's future as Gene - where I used to feel sort of sorry for him after seeing how he thrives in his heyday, it more and more seems like where things were headed all along. Best character development on TV as always, and masterful storytellers all around.
Apart from the two excellent Mandalorian episodes, I could have done without this show. Hopefully the next few Star Wars shows feel a bit more organic.
There is a post-credit scene.
It's impossible to skip the opening, its weird but funny as hell.
Fantastic season finale. Had all the things I come to this show for. The action scenes in space were great both above and on the moon. I'm sorry to see Tracy and Gordo go, but I think the way it happened was quite powerful. Excited to see the ending tease season 3 focusing on / taking place on Mars, and given the additional time jump of it seems we'll likely be meeting a large swath of new characters. Can't wait for the next season, while Apple TV+ has a few good shows, this show alone justifies the existence of the service for me.
This show was weirdly comical for me.. although its a good mysterious horror for sure. But I am from the town that island is located in, and yes.. salt is the towns gold! Also the people can be rather odd.. Really bizarre to see Osea Island in such a strange way. Great show, interested to see where this goes!
Netflix mapping: this is the 2nd episode of season two on Netflix.
All our suspicions about Other John & Other Jane are confirmed! They were always meant to kill John & Jane -- the first time just unexpectedly didn't work out.
Jane had one bullet left at the end but there were three shots fired when she confronted Other Jane outside the Panic Room, which sounds grim. But if they want another season, Jane got hold of Other Jane's gun, shot Other Jane, possibly Other John again.
John's mom knows more about life than any of these other people.
I'm still mad about Max.
Above all else, this season is about how certain types of men treat women, how they build structures under and within the patriarchy that give them impunity to do so, and how women either accede to these conditions—or push back and are punished. This episode is the most clear-headed articulation of that thesis (if I'm correct in describing it as such), and it's absolutely devastating.
It's not accurate to the books in the sense that it follows the events word for word, but it feels like the WoT I read. It managed to tell a different story that still managed to capture the spirit of the books.
Really pleased it managed to find it's footing, I really hope it sticks the landing.
Strong start, and I say that acknowledging that Asimovian truism is obvs not their goal. I legit love where they’re taking the whole “prophecy” narrative, since that aspect of the OG story would be hard to convey as a TV show..
Making it a battle of rebellious, savant-tier genius vs a technologically elite Empire of forgotten dreams—whose ruler is a clone controlled by an actual robot—really makes it feel relevant to our experience: moneyed royalty building an algorithmically-powered, AI driven—chatGPT, Google Bard, etc)—but potentially distopian future… Pretty excellent.
this episode is even more impressive when you learn they shot about ~20~30m of it as a one-shot on PHYSICAL FILM (hiding canisters of film around the set to swap out) and had the confidence to walk away from keeping it a 1-shot and edited in more of tom's side than planned
i like a 1-shot as much as the next guy but it can be SUCH a showy look-at-me technique (and everyone feels like they're trying to work one in post-Birdman/True Detective without it really supporting the storytelling), much credit to them for having it in hand and deciding against it
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/succession-director-logan-roy-death-season-4-1235578079/
the season finale was a bit less cringy and a bit darker than usual...anyways I'm still looking forward to the prequel spinoff Greg the Egg, the origin story of a little Machiavellian fuck
Alright, someone please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks Ashley Zukerman (Nate) looks like the perfect combination of B.J. Novak and Donnie Darko-era Jake Gyllenhaal.
From Dorothy being determined to get Leanne back into the house, to Leanne being determined to stay now Dorothy has decided she has to go, the tale has taken a complete turn.
In an earlier series, Leanne was seen watching a video of one of Dorothy's old news reports. This showed Leanne in the crowd as a youngster. With her determination to look after Dorothy, shown by her willingness to "remove" anybody who tries to harm her, I have started to wonder if maybe Leanne could actually be Dorothy's daughter.
Could it be possible that Dorothy had a child in her teenage years and gave her away for adoption? This could also go some way into explaining her mental frailties and unwillingness to accept the Jericho actually died. Has anybody any thoughts on this possibility?
I’m still trying to piece this together but failing miserably. Here’s what I’ve got:
They (the cult members) are angels. They were once living but after death come back to do God’s will. Leanne, like her Uncle and the other cult members, is an angel. She died (we saw her grave) but at some point after she came back she decided of her own accord to come to Dorothy and Sean, to restore Jericho to them, which wasn’t her mission. The baby she brought to them really was Jericho, returned from the dead just like her, her uncle, the other cult members, etc (the angels). The cult has taken Jericho because he’s supposed to be with them, his kind. Dorothy is sinning in that she keeps trying to interfere with the angels’ work and therefore (in their view) keeps meddling with God’s plan.
