The writers of this show are so ignorant of other cultures they just had a Japanese woman take off her shoes….in her living room.
Not for me definitely. The breakneck pacing has little regard for characters or a proper plot (so things must be convenient) and in this format more akin to something on SyFy or CBS rather than the ""HBO prime time slot""...
Underlying the FX sample pack with a Gil Scott-Heron song is just tone deaf and quite try hard imho (it didn't fit the scene nor the theme). George served his part as a plot device too apparently so let's commemorate it with killing him off...
"My anaconda don't want none, hun"
Wow, guess it only took two episodes for this show to become one giant hot mess of bland witchcraft and magic spells.
Should be grateful, more time to watch other shows.
The whole episode was aces (Lazslo is leaking into me apparently), but it was "Persian Frank Zappa" that put me over the top. Really superb season so far.
In all seriousness, I felt that this episode had potential with its beautiful setting and the enigmatic main actress. But it falls short and it feels like I'm watching the indulgence of a writer and director just wanting to do a murder story for fun but not really tying in any larger themes or clever uses of technology.
It totally built up to a nice finale, but the only thing is they just had to introduce some mixing of blood magic crap into it, completely killing the sci-fi
[8.3/10] This is my favorite episode of the season so far. What the show lacks in conspicuous artistry, it makes up for in realism. While I haven't been in the specific scenario of a Bay Area duo preaching “declonaivization” to a group of teens, I have been in any number of mandatory seminars where pie-in-the-sky facilitators cheerily force bored teens through various bonding/learning exercises. This episode gets the reaction of both the instructors and the teens just right.
It’s also a good episode for the various character relationships. I like the continued hints that, despite existing in opposition to each other for most of the series, there’s a strange concordance between Bear and Jackie. The fact that they win the potato dance contest (a strange sentence to write) despite grousing at one another the whole time is a sign that they’re more in sync, more aligned, than either of them realizes. We’ve had hints of that throughout the season, and I’m intrigued where it’s headed.
Likewise, I appreciate the way that Bear and Alora seem to work out their lingering issues from Alora bailing through a “guide your blindfolded friend through an obstacle course” exercise. (And Willie Jack using the exercise to have Cheese get her a soda is a big laugh.) The sense of learning to trust one another through the process seems to help them push past their beef. And yet, the theme of the episode seems to be that some issues are too deep to be resolved through hippie dippie, baseless shtick to keep teens occupied for an afternoon.
The scene at the end of the episode between Bear and Alora Jack is powerful. Bear’s hurt is real, but his attitude is childish, and his attempt to try to hurt Alora in turn by saying she’ll die alone like her grandmother is a verbal knife in the back. He’s right that Alora never apologized, but she’s also right to point out his hypocrisy in claiming to be the bigger person when spewing that kind of B.S., and that she’s not sorry for leaving that sort of childishness behind, even if she didn’t go about it the right way. The acting is a little stiff, but the emotions feel real, which gives the scene life.
In the same vein, I appreciate Willie Jack’s scenario with Jackie. She, more than anyone, has been the most resistant to Jackie’s presence in their orbit, even as she worked to remove the curse on her. The fact that she intentionally bungles a trust fall to get back at Jackie for jumping her friend seems almost cruel in the moment. But I like what follows a lot, where Willie Jack trashes Jackie’s brother, without realizing that the brother is dead, “like Daniel.” There’s a parallel between her and Bear, in trying to get back at someone and realizing you’ve gone too far when you see the humanity in your enemy. Willie Jack’s remorse, Jackie’s hurt and threat, and the way the enmity between them remains is another sign that this session didn’t fix anything.
Despite my backhanded compliment above, there’s a lot of artistry in this episode. The simple composition of Willie Jack approaching Jackie at the clinic is very well framed. The sequences where the kids recall a happy moment from their pasts, realized in black and white with one splash of color is eye-grabbing. And the flowing camera work when Alora is home alone, helps convey the eeriness of that scenario, where she feels the presence of her dead grandmother, or at least sees her sanctuary seem more unnerving in its solitude, conveyed with the cinematography and the acting.
Overall, this is a high water mark for season 2, which has its laughs and its neat directorial choices, but also some well-observed moments among the show’s main characters.
Some who comment here carry a very narrow view of gender. How 'Devs' handles gender is preferable to a lot of other series. if one cannot see why, consider looking up how Garland uses philosophy in his video projects; it's akin to that of Terence Malick.
The only way it’s good is if you consider it Halo fan fiction. I don’t get everyone’s obsession with ignoring set lore and making a different timeline. Basing it on the Halo lore, this show is utter crap. So many things went wrong that just directly go against what things stand for from the games. Basing it as a “creative” adaptation of Halo. It’s fine so far, I’m interested to see where it will go. I am simply disappointed that it’s an adaptation rather than showing existing lore as live action. Also I don’t know what everyone is talking about but I find the CGI at the beginning utter crap. In 2022 I should not be able to distinguish between CGI and real.
Republic of Croatia didn't exist in the 60s though, was still part of Yugoslavia and would be for several decades...
Nah....boring plus few war stereotipes.
5/10 max.
PS. Stop displaying Serbs as animals, for God sake. Nicest people in Europe.
This is simply awful from start to finish. Move over Chibnal - Your writing sucks.
Mmmm... Delicious cheese... I don't think I've ever been so excited about nothing happening! lol
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Good choice of a historical era and setting, highlighting a largely forgotten pirate captain; love the Asian setting, as it is rare for Doctor Who to tackle.
Jodie Whitaker has a few good Doctor-moments acting opposite Craige Els; John Bishop is sassy as always; Crystal Yu seems to enjoy playing the pirate captain Madame Ching, which carries over to her energetic performance; the lead Sea Devil has more personality than any other previous individual of said species.
There's quite a nice swashbuckling sequence on a ship towards the end of the episode which ends up being the highlight of this adventure; there are finally some emotional moments devoted to the Doctor and Yaz, but it's difficult to say where they’re going from here with one episode left of this era.
The BBC once again excels in the costume and set decoration department, bringing a pinch of reality and magic to the visual side of the story; the Sea Devil designs are wonderfully true to the original ones from the classic series, with a slightly updated quality; Segun Akinola's score takes inspiration from the setting and supports the adventure pretty well.
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So much of the plot makes no sense - how do you steer a ship without a crew, the Sea Devils came and went, Dan kills five Devils just like that and so on; the story does not build up to the introduction of the Sea Devils in any way, making their first meeting with the Doctor feel very anti-climactic; it's frustrating how, for the second subsequent episode, we get teases of a Thasmin thing, only for the episode to joke it off before fully committing to anything - make up your mind already! The Asian setting and characters remain mostly a backdrop that doesn't play into the plot all that much; they go the Terry Nation route of introducing a gigantic, secondary monster only to never use it properly.
Nothing is done to make the character feels alive or interesting because there’s no time for real character moments; Madame Ching ends up being mostly a celebrity cameo with no real use within the story.
I don't know whether it's down to the writing, the performances, the direction or the visuals, but this episode feels more like a fan-made spoof or fan film on YouTube than an actual episode of the show; with a very limited guest cast and no ship crew to speak of, this episode feels empty and not very lively, which immediately removes some of its charms; am I seeing attempts at some MCU-style humour? Well, it doesn't work very well and comes across as very forced; this one feels rushed almost all the time, with very little time devoted to actual plot or character development; this episode is lacking real tension and peril - things are waved around for a bit and then resolved so that we can move along to the next thing; there's not a feeling of a bigger, more though-out special - in fact, Legend of the Sea Devils feels more like a mid-season episode than anything.
Not a fan of how the Sea Devils' mouths move when they talk, this makes them look like puppets; the CGI looks very half-baked most of the time and there are some weird cuts and camera angles trying to hide the fact.
A funny but some-what forgettable follow up to the first movie. It is predictable that Juliet isn’t the one pregnant from the start.