he showed todd a bug's life to encourage his inventiveness and make him feel like less of an outcast........... humans are inherently good idc what anyone says
MY GOD! It was soooo uncomfortable to watch. She is a REALLY GOOD ACTRESS, and the way he told everything makes her creepier! HIS EYES!!!! PLS was insane!!
That was such an incredibly sad but perfect and correct ending.
I don't understand people who didn't like the ending because their favorite character didn't win. After 4 seasons with these despicable characters did anyone expect the Roy kids to unite and defeat the bad guy with the power of love and friendship? It was never going to end that way.
The three siblings just could never get over their egos. They all proved, through the 4 seasons, that they’re basically useless and the only reason they were ever in the discussion to be CEO is because Logan was their father. They'd rather destroy everything than have only one of the trio take the upper hand. Shiv just could not let her brother have a win, even if it meant her losing as well. Perfectly summed up their whole family dynamic and the show as a whole.
The siblings are so entitled and self-absorbed they never saw Tom coming. They’ve never had to work for a damn thing. I don't like Tom, but it makes sense for someone like Tom, who worked his way from the ground up and earned himself the position he was in.
The scene with the siblings making that awful smoothie and them watching their dad reveal yet another side of himself was so nice among the insanity that came in between.
That penultimate shot with Shiv and Tom in the car was phenomenal. Complete shift in the power dynamic. After marrying him specifically because she thought he was weak enough to keep holding power over.
Kendall not winning every season. That’s rough.
Willa revamping Logan's apartment with a cow print couch.
In the end Conor was the only one to have any kind of a relationship with Logan, the other kids are never shown having moments with him like he did at the recorded dinner.
Greg translating the Swedish in real time is the smartest thing he’s ever done. Four seasons and I cannot for the life of me understand why he would put up with that. His uncle offered him $250mil to get away from the firm.
But the biggest thing for me coming out of this episode is Kendall’s son isn’t really his. It really came out of nowhere and seemed more like a fact than a rumor the way everyone reacted to it.
All in all, Succession stuck to the show’s core till the end. In a way it’s a predictable ending but because it’s television and we expect some twist where a cool character comes out on top we don’t expect the expected. The outcome is pretty much what you’d expect from all the characters knowing their faults
This episode broke me to million pieces. What a great show. Thank you Richard.
[8.6/10] This one was a little more disjointed than some of the prior episodes, but man, the ending. I like the fake out here. Veronica does some legit detective work with the help of Maddie (aka Veronica Jr.). Keith nails down the lead and feeds it to the cops. The cops use it to arrest the bomber. Badda bing badda boom. I’m not saying it’s totally plausible that this season would wrap up its mystery in episode 3, but you can envision Veronica Mars having the bombing be a minor red herring, or accidental entree into some sort of bigger mystery.
The episode actually sells it pretty well too! Fresh off of Patton Oswalt’s character bringing up how Keith had trouble with the Lily Kane murder, and got kicked out of the sheriff’s office for evidence tampering is a nice reminder of past issues with the Mars family being overzealous. Keith himself brings up that Veronica doesn't have more than a hunch to go on that there’s something bigger here, and that they’re known to “tilt at windmills.” You buy it, or at least the threat that this is building a sandcastle out of nothing.
But then, in a moment of calm, when we’re expecting nothing but more silly Dick Casablancas antics, the second bomb goes off. I don’t normally like voiceover in shows, but Veronica’s sarcastic asides and noir-esque monologues always work for me, especially here. The desire to be wrong, to want everything to be okay, only to realize that your instincts are unfortunately right, speaks well of Veronica’s detective bona fides, but poorly of her future safety and mental health. There’s a soft pain to that moment, which is well-directed, as everyone runs away from the blast, the danger, but Veronica can’t help marching into it, time and time again.
But hey, to lighten the mood, “PLAY NO SCRUBS!!!” As indulgent as some of Ryan Hansen’s schtick gets here, it’s nice to just see Veronica and her crew having a bit of fun and being silly at Comrade Quack’s. Again, one of the things that made this show great in its day was despite the dark subject matter, it always had a lighter side, and beyond the show’s classic exchanges, it’s nice to see it still vindicating that side of things.
It’s also nice to see the show following up on Keith Mars’s mobility and memory issues. Clyde getting him into a concierge doctor, and the medical wonderland that follows, is a nice indication of the show’s exploration of classism that’s still in play. It’s also a way for Clyde to ingratiate himself to the people most likely to be investigating his boss and associate.
I’m into what seems to be the larger mystery, namely some kind of conspiracy among the people who were at the prison in Chino: Big Dick, Clyde, Perry Walsh (the bomber), and the guy from the bakery who set the rat at Hu’s grocery, to run some “undesirables” out of town. (That’s also coupled with Veronica’s mugger, who she suspects of being in league with them, being the guy who took dumps in the Sea Sprite ice machines.) Now why do they want to do this? Maybe it’s a real estate scam with Big Dick, or some prison racket through Clyde. Whatever it is, I’m anxious to find out.
I’m less enamored with the continued amount of time devoted to the Congressman Maloof storyline. Him getting kidnapped and beaten by the rednecks, and then kidnapped and threatened with murder by the cartel members feels like things are starting to get far fatched and a little convoluted even for Veronica Mars. But maybe I’m just less excited by the non-Mars parts of the show.
That said, I continue to get a big kick out of the dynamic between the two goons, whose matter of factness and ways of ribbing one another get a big laugh out of me. Plus, we have a Weevil sighting! I was wondering when he was going to get involved!
Otherwise, we have the continued training of Maddie, and reflections on the anger of losing someone close to you at that age, which feels like a nice way to reflect on where the show started. The Patton Oswalt Murder club is less adept at wringing comedy out of that, and feels like the show trying to be meta in a too cute fashion, but it’s brief and light enough to be forgivable.
Overall, this is another winning outing from the revival season, with dramatic twists, some fun moments, and a hell of a beat to go out on.
Gotta love a good use of a great song.
this is an absolute masterpiece!!!! and breathing is not allowed in the last five minutes
I've never been more heartbroken over a character's death like Eddie's last words were the saddest and proudest words he's ever said and yeah i sat there screaming crying sobbing throwing up
Jesus Christ!! That last minute :joy:. Just.... holy sh*t. Great episode.
As Butcher would say, “Fuckin Diabolical!”
Even Homelander was clueless when everyone started exploding haha
Rhea Seehorn at her finest hour. In this episode she delivers one of the best performances of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad combined. Master class of acting in every way. That ending is chilling too.
PSA - Explanation of what the two ladies on the phone are talking about in this episode:
OK I GET it. A "slow burn" show like this isn't everyone's cup o' tea. However, IMO, in the case of "Invasion", it worked well, in that it made you "feel" for the characters, (love OR hate them), while intercutting between stories, all the while avoiding hitting you over the head with monster jump scares, but still teasing you enough to keep you intrigued. A fine line to walk, and, they didn't always do it well. But all in all, a pretty good series, which, especially after the seemingly "easy, tied with a ribbon" NOT ending, and the "we ALL saw that coming" reveal at the NOT end, I am glad is getting a second chance "at bat".
Yes, some of the characters were predictable and annoying, and yet, the one person I wanted dead murked at the start, actually partially redeemed himself, and a couple of the others may, or may not have shed their mortal coils, at least on THIS plane. It will be interesting to see if they can take this beyond the "they came here for our resources" (or our brains) trope, and actually come up with something new(ish). Especially intriguing is the thought that Caspar (and his epileptic visions) could somehow partly be the CAUSE ("they came here for ME") as well as the effect of the arrival, especially with the astronauts Father making an appearance in his dream(?) after (brain) death(?). (Vdub Fringe's "digital back ups?") (but why was the father there?) Trevante Coles BEARD gets an honorable mention as an additional character, as well as Aneesha Malik for actually being a good Mom and not pitting her kids against the Dad by withholding a critical piece of information from them, even (or especially) after his possibly assuming room temperature. (no body, then, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps?)
Yeah, OK, maybe they spent too much time on these character development parts of the plot, but, as I stated earlier, they got me invested in the characters, for better or for worse, and, I look forward to seeing how the "rest of the story" plays out.
[8.0/10] This one is just made of awesome. It’s nothing but action sequences and fan service, but both are done well! This is the Star Wars equivalent of candy for dinner. There’s little in the way of deeper themes, little in the way of emotion, and little in the way of character development. “The Tragedy” exists just to blow up the status quo in terms of plot and give the fans a rollicking good time, and it succeeds on both counts.
My favorite moment, though, had nothing to do with those rocket-launched fireworks. It was the quiet scene that Dinn and Grogu shared on the Razor Crest before landing on Typhon. Mando doesn’t want to give The Child up. He clearly feels like Baby Yoda’s space dad and has grown close to the little force-sensitive tyke in their time together. But he also realizes that, after testing the kid’s powers and ensuring it’s not a fluke, that Grogu needs to be with someone who can hone his abilities, who can capitalize on the potential this “special” little guy has in store. Mando believes it isn’t him, and however hard it is for them to part, he wants to do what’s right.
Pedro Pascal sells the hell out of the emotions in that scene, what giving up this child who’s changed his life menas to Mando. The puppeteers and sound designers do almost as good as ob on their end, conveying how even if he can’t articulate it exactly, Grogu has an intuitive understanding of what’s about to happen and shares some of his surrogate father’s wistfulness over it.
But then it’s time for some ressurections and firefights. Look, if it was up to me, Boba Fett would stay dead. Hell, as much as I love Ahsoka as a character, if it was up to me, she would have stayed dead too. There’s far too many people who seem to be goners who nevertheless come back to life in Star Wars. Enough with the fakeouts and returns.
Still, if they gotta do it, I like how they did it here. I don’t know that we ever saw signs of Boba Fett being this noble or decent, whether in the Original Trilogy films, Attack of the Clones, or The Clone Wars series. But it works with Temura Morrison’s sand-worn gravitas. The adjustments to his backstory work well, making him the progeny of another Mandalorian foundling, searching for his father’s armor, possessed of similar honor and principles as Dinn is. That doesn’t necessarily line up with the character we’ve known to this point, but it passes the smell test, and makes for a cool character regardless of whether that character matches neatly with Boba Fett.
Plus, Ming-Na Wen is back as Fennec! There too, we have a resurrection that seems like it shouldn’t be possible, but I like the character and the performance so much that I’m willing to let it slide (no pun intended). Fans of Mulan and Agents of Shield like me are excited to have her back in the fold, and robotic midsection or not, the prospect of her and Boba as a team makes for an intriguing one.
If that weren’t enough, director Robert Rodriguez, a proven action director, gives them tons of badass moments to make fans fist-pump. Boba gets two (arguably even three) of them. We see him in his Tatooine survivor form, knocking Stormtroopers around with his Tusken staff like a master. Then, when the show has made the audience wait just long enough, he dons his old armor once again and makes mincemeat out of not only the enemy troopers, but their transport ships. It’s a hell of a coming out party for the character we last saw gobbled up by a sarlacc.
Fennec gets her moment in the sun too, using her sharpshooter abilities to pick off imerials until she’s corner and has to improvise with a giant boulder. Throw in a backwards shooting dive off the rock, and you have anolther badass role for Ming-Na Wen to inhabit.
Mando gets his time to shine too. Beyond his usual rough and tumble style, we get a nice setup and payoff with his use of the whistling bird. More to the point, we see how much he strains and struggles to reach Baby Yoda, and how he resolves to protect The Child when retrieving him proves impossible. I don’t know who Grogu is communing with in that bright blue beam, but I’m excited at the possibilities, and it makes for a great escort mission for Dinn and his fellow bounty hunters.
And yet, this one ends, true to the title, in tragedy. The dark troopers zoom down and kidnap Grogu before our heroes can stop them. Moff Gideon’s ship blasts the Razor Crest, leaving Mando without a vessel to go off in search of his adopted son. Gideon himself bests The Child, wearing the kid’s force powers out on mooks before taunting him and eventually caging him. It’s the most distress we’ve seen our favorite little tridactyl in since last season’s finale.
But there is, true to this franchise, hope. Boba and Fennec guaranteed The Child’s safety if Mando returned Fett’s armor, so now they’re committed to helping him rescue Grogu. Cara Dune (ugh) is willing to use her position as a New Republic Marshal to help spring Bill Burr (ugh) to track down the evil Moff. There’s not a lot of depth to this, but the pieces are moving in exciting ways, and there’s a clear path between here and the end of the season,
That’s a good thing. Despite its name, “The Tragedy” is more like a basket of quadruple layer nachos rather than an elegantly-cooked meal, but it goes down easy all the same. I’ll take thrills and unexpected returns by the barrelful when they’re this good.
There's not much in the way of plots this season, but that's not stopping the writers from watering it all down even more. The acting continues to be impressive, but the story has gone off a cliff.
Oh what a twisted web we weave.
Leanne must stay.
"You don't need fixing..."
This show is short, sweet and scarily good.
A nice pick for the 100th episode of the show. Fry's mutant transformation bit was a little quick, but it was a neat idea that the show executed well enough, especially Mrs. Astor's disdain for mutants and her change of heart at Leela's grandmother's story. Some good bits of humor sprinkled in as well. Not as funny as classic Futurama, but still good.
What a fun and twisted episode this was!
"Control your animals, or i’ll have Sean put them on the grill." - One thing about Leanne, she is going to cause some chaos.
Finally got Sean/Julian screentime I've been craving. The show's real IT couple has come back to us. Some nice sentiments from Sean and Dorothy towards Julian, as well. This is the thing I've been waiting for episodes.
At this point Jericho is not even worth it. Mourn that baby and adopt or something. Leanne might rather die and have it all be over than let Dorothy and her family go away from her. She and her homeless disciples are aggravating.
Vote for the Pūteketeke @ https://www.votethisbird.com :joy:
What a snoozefest. That was boring af.
The production value is amazing! The acting is top-notch! The writing isn't bad. BUT this is one anti-climactic first episode compared to the pilot for Game of Thrones. It's not terrible, but there isn't much of a drive that makes it as addicting as GoT. I'll stick around to watch the rest of the seasons, but this first episode makes it feel like a supplement to the original series rather than its own thing. So odd that the week started with the end of an amazing spinoff but now the start of one that doesn't realize it has heavy shoes to fill.
No?!? I honestly didn’t expect that!! Although it makes sense, now.
This was an emotional rollercoaster. Very happy to live this phenomenon!
Yup! That's the power of Kate Bush
This whole season has been fucking amazing but this episode stands out as one of the best imo.
[7.6/10] Holy cow, there’s a lot to unpack here. This was the most disjointed of the episodes so far, with a slew of former guest stars returning in a somewhat haphazard fashion, and fewer throughlines to unite everything.
So let’s cover those guest stars! We have the two culprits from season 3 playing the Hannibal Lecter game with Veronica in season 3. We have Max (Mac’s old boyfriend) as the owner of the dispensary on the boardwalk. And we even have the triumphant return of Vinny Van Lowe, in all of Ken Marino’s usual glory, as a separate P.I. hired by Mrs. Maloof to track down the family ring. It’s a minor thrill to see these people again, but everything is so glancing that it feels like more of a case of “hey, remember that guy!?” than naturally adding them to the story. (Though meethinks we haven’t seen the last of Vinny.)
Heck, I was even a little come-see come-saw about the return of Leo, and he was my favorite of Veronica’s love interests back in the show’s original run. I don’t know what it is, but the dynamic between him and Veronica isn't as easy or natural as it was back in the day, and the two of them talking about their romantic lives on a stake out feels pretty contrived. He’s still a welcome presence, and I like that he’s an FBI agent assigned to the bomber case because of local ties, but right now he feels more like a device than a character. (Though my favorite part of the episode was his awkward interactions with Logan, and Logan ensuing query of whether Piz was hiding in the back somewhere.)
Oddly enough, the best pairing in this episode was between Keith and Clyde. There’s something endearing about the two old guys trading war stories together, even if the show seems to want you to think that Clyde is playing Keith to some extent. It also gives Veronica a chance to be clever when she uncovers what’s in Clyde’s bag from the hardware store.
Oh, and I almost forgot the return of Weevil! I like the fact that he got to save Veronica’s behind here, showing his continued loyalty, but also remaining sort of a tweener on the good/bad divide, since he’s fallen into chop shops and working with local “hoodlums.” He gets the line of the episode when Veronica chastises him for these things, “It must be nice to have choices,” which sums up the show’s complicated take on racial and class divides, letting its protagonist be self-righteous but also flawed and, at times, myopic about where she sits in the social order.
I have to admit that I’m a little tired of The Murderheads. I do like that Maddie goes to them because she doesn't know where to turn after overhearing the Mars family’s theory, and that the Murderheads, in turn, blow up the Mars family’s spot by broadcasting the hypotheses Veronica and Keith are still running to ground in an explosive town council meeting. Still, the comedy stuff with that crowd has gotten a little too broad for my tastes.
But the mystery stuff is coming together at least. We’re getting more pieces falling into place for the whole “real estate plot from Big Dick” theory, with shell companies buying up boardwalk businesses. That said, it’s way too early for an answer to the central mystery to be that clear and that right this early. So my new theory is that the owner of Comrade Quacks is behind the bombings, meaning to teach the assulting douches of Neptune a lesson, given who’s ended up dead so far.
I’ll admit that I’m a little worn out by the Congressman Maloof story, which feels a little more exaggerated than the rest. (Give or take a neck bomb.) Him being faked out and presumably extorted by the cartel guys is a little much, and the same goes for the hillbillies being found in the desert. I like that they’re bringing the cartel folks closer to Veronica’s orbit, but until then, it just feels like a distraction.
Oh, and I almost forgot that Dick is pretty damn funny in this one! Him landing in a Lifetime X-mas movie in Romania about a woman who falls in love with two mannequins is the kind of comedic specificity that I get a big kick out of.
Overall, this one was not as strong or cohesive as some of the past episodes of this season, but there’s still good stuff to enjoy along the way.
Bran: I can never be Lord of Winterfell, I can never be Lord of anything, I'm the Three-eyed Raven.
Also Bran: I'm the King.
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:
I just LOVE how so many people are butthurt by this episode. Just goes to show how much this is still needed in our world. This was a masterpiece in storytelling.
This singular episode, which I initially didn’t think I would like in the beginning, became more incredible than entire movies. It was beautiful, poetic and entirely self encapsulated in a tiny little world where people can still pick out their little slice of happiness.
To all those who hated the episode, replace bill with a female in your head if you have to, but open your eyes to why this story was so fulfilling and poetic in a world filled with meaningless death and endless suffering.
