I find the series pretty boring actually...
9.5/10. What a way to start the season! I liked the general themes that this episode dabbled in. BoJack's struggle between doing something "challenging" but be unappreciated and quickly forgotten or something that would help him be remembered, but which feels like a lie since it's not really him, provides the episode with a strong thematic backbone. That gives color to BoJack strains to get through all these mindless interviews, to talk the talk that will get him an award that will validate him, but at the same time, he wants to defend his crappy TGIF sitcom that feels like more of a reflection of his soul (if for no other reason than because his soul is kind of crass, and because it was something he did with his best friend who saw the best in him), and it's also why he can't enjoy the ride because he's still questioning himself after what happened in New Mexico. That is, frankly, what I felt was missing from this show at times in prior seasons, something that powerfully explored BoJack's psyche while giving into the complexity of it and not just going for one-to-one, "bad experience A caused poor life result B" storytelling
And despite all that heavy, complicated thematic and psychological stuff, it was a damn hilarious episode! The conference call in particular was a great way of bouncing everyone off of one another and showing off the show's comic sensibilities. Todd getting lost, Midnight Cowboy-style in a hotel was slight but so so funny. And the other comic elements of the episode from Mr. Peanutbutter hijacking his accountant away from his son to come up with terrible, Todd-like ideas for shows, to Princess Carolyn managing the agency while multitasking, to the sendups of award season banter, were all superb. Overall, this episode hit the right mix of introducing the conflicts and emotional stakes of the new season, checking in with all of the characters, and making some hilarious jokes in the process. This episode definitely bodes well for season 3.
Fuck yeah, loved this since I dearly missed the shit-show that "The Soup" was. :D
This is pretty much a continuation of the old show with a "Netflix vibe" and some International stuff thrown in which I highly appreciate. Also that outro song was brilliant and ooooh so true.
8.6/10. I really enjoyed all the moving parts in this one, and it ended up moving like clockwork. I especially appreciated the bookends of the episode, which ever so briefly turned the foils (Rabbitowitz and Vanessa Gecko) into the protagonists. I'm a sucker for those kind of perspective-flipping gags, and having the bad guys fix marriages, reveal that one of our heroes were lying, and land their client a big role to save their agency, and have them treat it like a victory for justice and right (which...maybe it is?) was a nice twist.
But I particularly enjoyed the back and forth as BoJack juggled projects, from the blockbuster Pegasus project that would up his profile as a movie star, to the Jellybean Girl project with Kelsey that would allow him to do challenging work, to "Eathan Around* (a nice riff on Fuller House) which would allow him to help out something approaching a friend. It's a nice way to dramatize the different paths in front of BoJack, not to mention his inability to handle these things on his own or with any grace or dignity, and that makes it all the more interesting and devastating when it all goes up in flames.
I also enjoyed the B-Story of Mr. PB and Dianne visiting Mr. PB's brother on Labrador Island. Weird Al is always a get, and the "twisted spleen" as terminal illness conceit was really interesting, especially with Dianne picking up the hints and Mr. PB not wanting to have to face something difficult. They've also been setting up a lot in terms of Dianne with respect to children this season, and I wonder if it leads to her and Mr. PB having to adopt his nephews and Dianne not being okay with that.
Overall, a tightly-written, tightly-paced episode that had laughs and creativity out the wazoo.
[7.4/10] So here’s the big problem. BoJack is a show that revels in building things up just to tear them down. Sure, it has people making slow but steady progress, Todd in particular, but it’s also a show that relishes in gut punches. That makes you (or at least me) brace for them, and gives them less impact. Things were going too well for Princess Carolyn -- that means things had to predictably fall apart, and the parade of horribles that happen to her just starts to feel inevitable and almost indulgent in how things pile up.
It also doesn’t help that the shocking twist of the conceit is basically a repeat of something How I Met Your Mother pulled not that long ago. I still really enjoy the frame story, which has plenty of great riffs on “the future” and storytelling machinery that brings the comedy in an otherwise harrowing plot. And Amy Sedaris delivers her last lines about “what I do when I’m feeling down” so well. But again, the way this all felt telegraphed weakens the force of what could otherwise be a knife-twisting moment.
Still, Princess Carolyn losing her biggest client, her baby, her boyfriend, and even the sense of place and history that came from the necklace her mother gave her is genuinely harrowing. Her reasons for pushing Ralph away feel simultaneously a bit unfair but also understandable. It’s a scene that feels very real, even if it starts with a wild array of dentist clowns.
Overall, it’s a creative episode, but one whose misery seems too preordained to land as well as it needs to.
[8.7/10] I loved the structure of this one. The way it fit the BoJack/Hollyhock story, the Governor’s race, the Princess Carolyn plot, and Todd’s dentist clowns into one intersecting timescape was absolutely wonderful, giving everything a sense of flow while also allowing the show to develop some momentum from jumping between stories.
For one thing, I really enjoyed the way the show used the “one week later/one week earlier” bit to drive home how fickle the electorate is. The hoopla over Woodchuck’s new hands, the origin of those hands, and Biel’s anti-avocado position driving the fortunes of the election and the media’s coverage of it is great satire of the 2016 election that nevertheless works well as broader satire of political races and news coverage generally. It also drops more nice hints at bumps in the road between Diane and Mr. PB, with Biel’s “magic eye” story providing a metaphor for why Diane might want to stick it out while waiting for something magical to click between the two of them.
Todd’s story was mainly just for laughs, but they were great laughs. His interactions with the representative of the Better Business Bureau had the dependable comedy from a square interacting with a goofball, and his group’s escapades to put on a show and get Princess Carolyn in position were zany fun.
Princess Carolyn’s story was good stuff too. I like the idea that she’s despondent and slipping after all that’s happened to her, but that the serendipity of receiving a script titled “Philbert” strikes a chord and gives her a reason to get out of bed and try to produce it. Her interactions with Turtletaub are a hoot as always, and I’m interested by the moral ambiguity of her forging BoJack’s signature to make it happen.
But the peak of the episode comes in its bookends, which center on BoJack’s relationship with Hollyhock. I’d naturally assumed that Hollyhock had passed out from starving herself due to BoJack’s blob comment, but it’s a good fake out. The show earns it’s angst from BoJack who reveals how much he knows and cares about his daughter in his efforts to see her in the hospital. His interactions with her eight dads strike the right balance of comedy and tragedy, and you really feel for BoJack in how he’s losing something that enriched his life and which he was on the road to being deserving of for once.
And man, the reveal that his mom was secretly dosing Hollyhock’s coffee with amphetamines is a doozy. It wraps up BoJack’s parental issues in both directions nicely, and makes for an absolute dagger when he bundles her up and gets ready to drop her off at the worst nursing home he can find. It’s the cherry on top of all his past resentments, and that’s what makes her recognizing him at the very end such a splash of cold water. Right when he’s at his emotional low point, she finally figures out who he is and he has to confront his anger and his desire to be seen by her at the same time. It’s a hell of a note to go out on.
Overall, it’s an episode with a creative interlacing of stories, each of which hit, and in the case of the last one, packs a wallop. Superb stuff.
Ugh, This ruined me forever.
OMG, That was a twist! Best episode EVER.
Not only one of the best horrors I've seen this year, but one of the best films I think I've seen in a very, very long time.
I went into this thinking that it was a horror movie. That's what I expected, a horror movie, what I got was a lot of tears and some alcohol in my system. There is horror but it's shown more in human nature, how selfish we become in face of danger.
This film surpasses it's zombie subgenre - it's a heartbreaking and gruelling tale of a father's fight for his daughter's survival. All other characters along the way are equally compelling. And the movie is a fresh take on an overused subject - don't expect guns, machetes, chainsaws and tanks - this is a raw and emotional fight you're in for.
the cart/hallway scene almost kills me every time!
This show isn't perfect but they sure as hell know how to make an ending!
When Michael thanked Tahani for being so helpful and the light cube turns red I laughed my ass off! And Hawaiian pizza is the worst pizza!
This show is goofy light-hearted fun and I'm loving it more each week! Great to see Adam Scott joining the (bad place) gang, I'm sure he'll bring even more fun to the show! Oh, and again, awesome cliffhanger, I'm already itching for the next episode!
The Good Place has the potential in it to be a really amazing, fun show. It completely ignores that potential, though, in favour of playing things as safe as possible. It's frustrating, because the show has a fantastic central concept and both Kristen Bell and Ted Danson have the ability to make anything they are involved in better.
It turns out that they are not quite enough, and Danson especially gives a distractingly odd performance throughout (reasons for this can be explained away, but it's so off putting). The humour is extremely hit and miss, although most episodes did manage to get one genuine laugh out of me. It's a show that desperately needs to be more risqué and have more adventurous storytelling. Every character beside the two leads are bland, poorly written and certainly poorly acted (Chidi and Tahani being the biggest culprits).
BUT. The show does something unexpected. It actually pushes the narrative forward instead of sticking to the same conceit every episode, giving us new storytelling avenues. By the end we get that genuinely unexpected twist that re-frames EVERYTHING we've seen so far, and actually makes the show's annoyances suddenly make sense in retrospect.
Even if that hadn't happened, there's something about The Good Place that made me want to keep watching. It's completely mediocre but has enough of a spark that it succeeds in standing out, and given how the first season ended it could go somewhere good.
[6.4/10] The Good Place is getting a little too simplistic and didactic for my tastes here. The premise of the A-story is a good one -- Michael is an immortal being and so has never had to really consider morality because he’s never truly had to face the concept of death. So when he is facing the real prospect of “retirement,” at Chidi’s urging, he has a breakdown. That leads to some great comic acting from Ted Danson as his face practically melts with anguish and he curls up into a ball on Eleanor’s lap. It’s a heady thing to play for comic notes, but it works.
Buy then the show gets really broad and obvious about it. Having Michael shift from “existential crisis” to “mid-life crisis” is a clever enough twist, but the episode goes really cheesy with the humor, and it doesn’t land. At the same time, the flashbacks with Eleanor learning about death from her crappy mom have some decent laughs in them, but their message is too blunt. Eleanor considers how damaging ignoring your bad feelings about death is given the source, and then delivers an aesop to Michael about it. It’s too neat and too easy.
The B-story is solid, until the end. I like the idea that Tahani knows she’s intended to be “tortured” by having her great party be upstaged by one the demons are throwing, but that the realization that she still can’t beat them in party planning nevertheless bothers her. It’s an interesting opportunity for Tahani to have some self-reflection, and Jason offering her some comfort and support in his typically dim-witted way is sweet.
But man, having them sleep together feels like such a standard sitcom move. Not every instance of someone being nice to a member of the opposite sex needs to lead to romance. And it comes off like the show needing something for Tahani and Jason to do while bigger plot stuff is going on in the rest of the show. I’m not a fan of that choice, to state the obvious, though maybe I’m just salty because I was oddly compelled by last season’s Jason/Janet pairing.
Overall, one of the more standard-to-cornball episodes of the show thus far.
[8.3/10] The Good Place is definitely playing to those in its audience with philosophy backgrounds. The titular trolley problem isn’t exactly a deep cut in moral philosophy, but seeing it not only dramatized literally, but remixed and rematched with our thought problem twists and series callbacks was wonderful. That alone would make this outing an enjoyable one -- seeing the normally abstract, removed sort of moral quandaries philosophers use to illustrate points made real in Road Runner-style splendor.
But as the show does when it’s firing on all cylinders, it doesn’t just use this idea for the humor and mayhem -- it uses it to make a point about the characters’ relationships and the broader narrative of the series. “The Trolley Problem” is more concerned about the connection between Michael and Chidi, and the wedges between them that may make it hard for them to find common ground.
I absolutely love the reveal that Michael was falling back into old habits and torturing Chidi. The question at play here is a compelling one -- can this moral instruction really change Michael, or is he stuck in his view of humanity and the actions that reflect that view. The episode muddles the conflict between Chidi and Michael a bit, but also takes it seriously, having Chidi reject Michael’s (hilarious) bribes and demand a sincere expression of contrition in order to repair their relationship and be able to move forward. It’s a deft balancing act between the creativity allowed by the world’s expansive sandbox, the silliness that defines the show’s humor, and the sincere character work that anchors it all.
The B-story, with Tahani and Jason getting psychotherapy from Janet, is nice enough, but not quite on the same level. It attempts to wring some emotional heft from Tahani being embarrassed to be seen cavorting romantically with Jason, but it falls into some clichés and Jason’s idiocy-as-profundity routine easily. On the other hand, the development that Janet is exceeding her programming and weird things are happening is an intriguing and amusing one, and her chipper roboticism has stealthily made her a dark horse for my favorite character on the show.
Overall, a great episode that has humor, inventiveness, and good character material in the A-story, and a couple of interesting Janet-related developments in the B-story.
[8.4/10] A real winner. I am a sucker for bottle episodes, particularly ones that use the opportunity to dig into character and really allow for some creative writing and performances. Despite a few flashbacks and some CGI trickery, this is a mostly-contained half hour that lets the strengths of the performers and the writers’ room shine through.
There’s two great arcs here. The first centers on Janet herself, and the realization that her malfunctions are due to her sublimated feelings for Jason emerging every time she claims to be happy about something involving him and Tahani. It’s not much of a revelation given what we saw last week, but it’s still realized nicely.
The process of Michael troubleshooting Janet leads to all sorts of creative sequences showing off the show’s high concept chops. But I also enjoy the idea that (a.) Janet isn’t even aware of why she has these feelings about Jason and has to come to terms with them in her own, A.I. sort of way, and (b.) that she’s willing to die, again in her own detached way, if it means protecting Jason.
It’s a great showcase for D’Arcy Carden, who plays up Janet’s traditional chipper dialtone demeanor, while also finding room for subtle bits of emotion that show the ways she’s becoming a little more human.
It’s also a great showcase for Ted Danson. Michael comes to terms with the fact (mostly through flashback) that despite everything, he views Janet as a friend. She helped him solve his biggest problems and has been there for him, whether from affection or programmed duty, from the beginning, and he can’t bear to let her go. It’s a nice bit of parallelism in Michael becoming just a little more human as well.
“Janet and Michael” is the type of episode that could provide challenging in the wrong hands, but on The Good Place, it gives the audience a heap of creative comedy and character development without being able to rely on traditional TV storytelling beats or changes in scenery. Kudos to all.
(Plus hey, it's Dennis Feinstein as Janet's new manufactured boyfriend!)
I totally lost it when I saw Michael doing Ted Danson's Cheers routine! Such a lovely (and obvious) Easter egg.
I felt this episode dragged things a little bit, it most certainly shifted the tone of the series, putting comedy in the back seat and letting moral consequences of actions lead the way. Like this episode's plot, the episode itself felt a bit experimental. I am not at all happy with the results, but it's still a good episode, nonetheless, despite it being my least favourite of the season. After last week's superb episode, this one seemed like a filler for season 3 to kick in. Or maybe I just miss the whole gang together. Regardless, the ending surely was interesting enough to keep us wanting to know where they're taking us, now. They're all alive, no more "Good Place" or "Bad Place" for a while, so has this now become a regular sitcom with ethical elements thrown into it? Ah! I'm certain that will not be the case, because this show knows how to sweep the rug from under our feet every time we're standing firmly on it. Yeah, I'm probably not good with metaphors. Anyway, I can barely wait to get reunited with these poor afterlife test subjects for season 3!
Pizza Ghost keeps stealing the show.
I wish, when I was that age, I had Luke's courage.. Hell, even now :D
For me, the whole of this episode is contained in Peyton Kennedy's rendition of Elton John's "Rocket Man". It just made the whole episode for me. It was lovely, and sad.
I was in high school at exactly the time this show takes place, so this every bit as relatable to me as My So-Called Life. The music, the clothes, the pop-culture references... love it. And that queer romance that takes place in the background -- we see it featured prominently, but the other characters don't seem to notice -- I had one of those too! I was the Kate in that situation (was never "cool" enough to be Emaline, but that's okay -- she's got so many expectations of her that I don't actually envy her). In any case, I do hope there will be a season 2. .Is this show deep? Not really. Is it well-acted? umm.. no. But I enjoy it all the same, and would like to see it continue.
One of the better comedy specials I’ve seen in a long while. Love both these guys.
[7.6/10] Solo has the scruffy confidence to be its own movie. Of the ten Star Wars films, it’s the only so far not to tie directly into the events of the main saga. That alone makes it interesting and laudable as the first real cinematic step of Star Wars ceasing to be a film series and starting to be a “cinematic universe.”
Which isn’t to say the film isn’t closely connected to its predecessors. Solo reveals how Han and Chewbacca first became a team. It features the first meeting between its title character in Lando Calrissian. It even shows how Han ended up with the Millenium Falcon. And that’s setting aside references to a “gangster on Tatooine” and hints of a growing rebellion and familiar characters popping up in unexpected places. Make no mistake -- the film is certainly interested in reminding its viewers where all these characters will be in ten years time.
But it’s also good enough not to be about that. Solo is part-heist flick and part coming-of-age film. It’s more interested in Han’s big adventure in this movie and how he gets to be the sarcastic smuggler we meet in A New Hope than it is in how he fits into the broader Star Wars Universe, to the film’s benefit. The promise of these “Star Wars stories” is that they can use the diverse, elaborate world that George Lucas and his collaborators created to spin all kinds of yarns untethered to the concerns of the Skywalker family. Solo still anchors its story on familiar faces, but tells its own tale, and comes out the better for it.
The big problem with Solo is that it has two modes: (a.) irreverent action/adventure flick filled with colorful characters and (b.) semi-serious interrogation of What Han Solo Is™, and it’s much more entertaining and effective at the former than the latter. The script, penned by Empire Strikes Back scribe Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jonathan, does a superb job at introducing all these figures, old and new, and then letting them bounce off on another in the confines of a rickety old ship and a job pulled at various rough-and-tumble locales. But it falters when trying to use that setup to get at its title character’s true nature.
The film’s thesis on that front is a solid one -- that he is unavoidably rough around the edges, and wants to be “bad,” but deep down he’s good. That is, after all, his essential arc in the Original Trilogy, where a seemingly good-for-nothing smuggler is revealed to have a heart of gold and sympathies to the cause of the Rebellion, or at least his friends. Solo retraces that arc a bit, and weakens Han’s progression in the saga films a little in the course of that, but the Kasdans get Han: the talk that’s bigger than his paydirt, the cocksure improvisational confidence, and the innate goodness that peaks through his rough-hewn if charming exterior which he’ll deny to the end.
The film just does a much better job of showing us those qualities through Han’s actions and attitude than in having various other characters ham-fistedly comment on it and wax rhapsodic about who he’s been and who he’ll be.
The best parts work, as they must, thanks to Alden Ehrenreich, who takes over the role originated by Harrison Ford in 1977’s A New Hope. Following in those iconic footsteps is a tall order, but Ehrenreich makes it work. He doesn't stoop to doing an impression of Ford, short of a few conspicuous mannerisms, but still manages to capture the character’s rakish charm and overconfident, anything goes spirit. Yes, it’s a little hard to grok that this guy becomes 70s era Harrison Ford in ten years, but Ehrenreich absolutely works as Young Han, and the movie wouldn’t work at all without that.
The other characters that populate the film vary a bit more, but are largely fun and entertaining. Woody Harrelson’s turn as Beckett sees him filling the weathered good ol’ boy niche he’s carved out for years now. Emilia Clarke does fine as Qi'ra, who manages to be a little bit more than just Han’s love interest, but only a little. Donald Glover’s charisma carries the day as he inhabits Young Lando, but occasionally he comes across like Glover doing his best Lando impersonation than a fully convincing character (though his chemistry with Ehrenreich sparkles over that nicely). And there’s plenty of other fun, if seemingly disposable side characters, like Paul Bettany’s genteel but menacing villain, Dryden Vos, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a delightfully irrepressible droid revolutionary named L3. Even relative newcomer Joonas Suotamo brings character beyond the fur to Chewbacca, alongside Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt’s traditional groans and growls.
When Solo deploys these characters well, it’s a hell of an action-filled romp. Seeing Han’s Oliver Twist-esque origins blossom into his up-and-down efforts to live on the fringes of both the law and the galaxy are fun and thrilling. The movie takes the viewer to new, scrappier corners of the galaxy, packing the frame with wild new creatures and settings that help make Star Wars feel big and diverse again.
Han’s goals and wants are clear; his compatriots are well-if-quickly sketched, and the set pieces are nicely chaotic and spontaneous, as befits the way any plan involving Solo should shake out. The pacing is off here and there, and certain action sequences extend to the point of exhaustion (likely a casualty of the hand off from the nixed boundary-pushers Phil Lord & Christopher Miller to steady hand Ron Howard). But the core setting of the film -- a band of well-traveled and wannabe outlaws does a job with pitfalls and smart remarks -- works like gangbusters.
Then, the final act hits, and the film stops being fun and starts being serious. There’s double-crosses on double-crosses, heavily sign-posted character-defining choices, and cliché, ponderous statements about who Han is supposed to be or can’t be or might have been that one time (we’re not really sure).
Solo, like its protagonist, has its heart in the right place here. It’s laudable to try to turn this adventure into something revealing about one of the franchise’s biggest characters and not just an empty-calorie escapade. But the film can’t support the weight of that introspection (not to mention all of that clunky extrospection) and becomes bogged down when trying to unravel both its less-compelling plot threads and its character study in one big convoluted finale.
But one thing is for sure. This movie is not about the Skywalkers. Despite an eyebrow-raising tie-in, it is not about the broader Star Wars Universe. It’s about Han Solo, and It is, for the first time, a genuinely independent Star Wars story. For most of its run time, Solo is a standalone (if franchise-winking) adventure from the days when Han was still cutting his teeth as a smuggler and outlaw. The film has its problems when it departs from that, but still shows the benefits, and the fun, of Star Wars movies that follow the lead of Solo himself and aim to go it alone.
Well that robbery escalated quickly.
Started watching Good Girls out of boredom, nothing more than that. However, as I finished episode 1, I continued watching, and after episode 2, I couldn't stop watching, until I binge watched all 10 episodes. And as I have seen them all, I have to admit, I really love this series, and I am really glad to have heard that there will be a second season. It's not truly that original in terms of story, and I don't know how to tell about it without spoiling anything, but it is done in such a way that it keeps you hooked, at least, it did for me.
I really really enjoyed this show. Typically I'm not interested too heavily in shows without a procedural type feel, but with Salvation, the drama and intrigue kept continuing. It was a lot of fun with the conspiracies and drama and I really enjoyed the characters and their interactions with each other. I really hope for a season 2!