Walking Dead's strength is always in its focus of character, and this episode shows that well.
We finally get a closer look of Negan through the classic "two characters in one room" scene. We get to look that, beyond his violent act and ill-mannered joke, Negan truly believed he did what he has to do. Classic philosophers have pondered a lot on the question "what would the world without the law be" and in a post-apocalyptic Walking Dead zombie world, that world, Negan believed, would require one despot that can maintain order. "I like killing people," Negan said, "But it's about killing the right people. You kill one right people, and you could save hundreds more." When Simon proposed in massacring The Hilltop to scare away ones who remain, Negan rashly opposed the idea, underlining that "people are resources" and he is "the one in charge".
All the sequences in this whole episode step away from the portrayal of Negan as comical villain who simply love to murder people. It shows that Negan, like many real life despots, calculate his actions and believe in an orderly societies maintain through a balanced oppression. One can easily be reminded with Philipinne's Rodrigo Duterte, Jakarta's Basuki Purnama, Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, and other oppressive despots who said things similarly to Negan.
And of course, like real life despot, an authoritarian figure won't stay that long without the support of their people. In this episode we are shown the dynamics of Negan's most trusted elites through their table discussion about the possibility of Savior withour Negan - how different kind of people eventually submit to the ideals of maintaining order through power. People react when their safety is threatened as with the labors in Savior's clutch react when the base is out of power. But as Negan returned, they all too returned to bowing down to him, as if realising that their ultimate source of safety has returned. "Everything will be okay as long as our leader is here" is a common belief in societies with long history of dictatorship like in Indonesia and Singapore - and apparently The Savior's workers also have this mindset.
This first episode does take its time to show the transition from the one-year-off screen-peacetime to the action again. So it is no wonder they spent the first half of the episode rather slowly, showing the peaceful lives of the cast. They don't shake off the uncomfortable feeling of Homelander's unpredictability though; every time he's on screen I'm never so sure what would happen next. Not to mention that there's also Neuman, every time she's on screen I can't get rid of the feeling that anything something explode at anytime.
I like that they still play the vulgar sex, gross violence, and not-so-subtle allegories (Homelander being jerked off) like in previous seasons. But like the other reviewer said, I hope they don't rely too much only on those tropes and offer something new to the table.
Not the finale we need, not the finale we deserve either... I was expecting at least a 90 minutes run. But regardless of the amount of them being cut, and sped up, I'm glad it was not a jumble mess like Season 5 finale.
A lot in the episodes feel like a callback to Season 1: the Rocinante dinner time (like the one they had with Alex and Miller), the landing and assault on the Ring surface (like the Assault on Thoth), and the negotiation/politics (like the whole Errinwright debacle). They were not as intense as the 1st Season given the time constraint, but enough to get all the things going.
The space battle leaves something to be desired, esp. on the UNN & Mars side (very far from the tenuous chaotic high command conflict back in Season 3), and the Belters' side could have more improvement (wish we could see more from the old guy Walker), but it's enough to convey the direness of the situation. Holden's crew raid is executed better than the space combat side, just like in the Thoth Station assault. Marco's demise was a bit cut short however, which feels a bit anticlimactic after they all went through. Similarly, the roundtable meeting was very simplified, without much tense and direness like we see during the tension between Earth Mars in Season 1-3 (like in Bobbie's trial), but at the very least it gives enough reason for a resolution to come up and conclude the series.
Again, this could've been more: it has improved from the less than average Season 5, but still it was not a very satisfying conclusion to this fantastic series. Alas, this is what we have. I hope we could still see more from The Expanse.
"Why do things have to die?"
"It is nature. And nature is flawed."
This episode asks the question the meaning of life and death. As Campion and the kids learn the cost of survival sometimes can only be done by killing other sentient beings; Mother who wonders what it is like to be a "creator" - an actually pregnant woman; Tempest relates to a mother; and of course the bloody struggle of leadership among Mithraics.
There's something poetic about this episode, that starts with the loss of a mouse, a small creature possession of a kid that ends with the death of a pregnant creature, who reproduces life and Ambrose the leader of Mithraic survivors who were supposedly to save his group with his faith.
"Let nature run its course."
"Nature has no course."
The finale of the Ilus arc already happened on previous episode; this episode closes the other stories: Avasarala's campaign, Bobbie's post-military life, and Ashford's/Drummer's hunt for the terrorist. Those plot points feel disconnected at earlier episodes in the season, but now it's tightly knitted to each other.
This episode is also a send-off to two characters. They managed to make Ashford a likeable character in the last two seasons, he really seemed like an ex-space pirate that has found his way through diplomacy. His death thus feels like a lost to a "civilized" side of the Belt, who has seen the both sides of the story. However, they could have raised less death flags for him. When he told Drummer to save the beer for after he came back, it was a glaringly strong and obvious death flag.
Meanwhile Miller, who retains his riposte and gruff character, finally has to be brought to end again. Holden's final moments of the protomolecule remains on his ship, which he seems to think to symbolize everything about Eros and his venture with Miller, was a sad farewell.
The Expanse does their best finale mid-season, and here we have one more season finale that hits all the right note but never went to go fully satisfying. Regardless, it manages to close the relatively self-contained season - kinda different from previous The Expanse season when story arcs go toward the other first half. Some would say it's been a filler season, which I don't disagree, but it never lost all the stuff that makes The Expanse great. Ready for Season 5.
Previous episodes made me think there was a clear-cut definition of who the "bad guy" is, which kinda disappointed me as I expected The Expanse to have more nuanced characters. This episode proves my suspicion was wrong - and The Expanse is still The Expanse.
It's a little bit harder to pinpoint Murtry as the bad guy here, as he seems only want to maintain order - and exacting revenge while at that - though in a rather megalomaniacal, self-centered way. "Now you know," he said to Holden, "This is the shit I have to deal with," sounds exactly just like authoritarian personalities when they rationalize their doing. On the other hand, the other party is not completely innocent at all, since here we are reminded of the O.P.A. strain that holds nothing but contempt to Earthers by their ploy to damage the RCEA. Even as far as to new solar system, they can't get out of their old political squabbles - "playing their old games".
The scene with Lucia's husband depict this best. Whereas Lucia insisted her husband to fight, to be someone strong in her place, he angrily retorted, "am I not strong enough, because I don't want to bring killing to this planet?" The husband reminds me of the scene from earlier season with Maneo Jung-Espinoza - whereas others would fight for their pride, identity, and live for future generations, the ordinary men just survive to live for today.
And identity is the focus of this episode. Belters think once they got taken away, they wouldn't be able to return. It's a result of years of oppression - they became paranoid because that's what the Inner always did in the past. Earthers, meanwhile, thinks that they're some universe-wide police which can regulate what can and can't people do. They're not merely arguing over some territory on the planet for the resource. They're arguing about who can claim the identity planet. A planet to call home.
All that under the backdrop of political campaigning back home, where politicians argue about colonization. Which makes the situation on Ilus actually more delicate - the majority of marginalized Earthers themselves are in crisis, but intergenerational suffering by Belters render the same marginals invisible in their eyes. Which made me recall a great review on Parasite: "the marginalized can look very heartless, even to each other. They don't have enough privilege to blur such social cannibalism with sweetener or perfume."
The episode benefits from its focus to Ilus and Earth's arc; relying only to subtle connection to other subplots they have developed in earlier episodes: the deal with Marcos Inaros (which I suspect will be connected to Bobbie's arc as well).
There was a moment in Season 2 that I found myself pitying Sadavir Errinwright. How wrong was I to even think of pitying such a sly, cunning snake. The first three episodes of this season has successfully turned Errinwright as a venomous villain as he seemed to be in Season 1. On the other hand, we start to see more of Jules-Pierre Mao, who seems to be more humane than we might have thought of him before. There was a good, concerning look of a father when Jules-Pierre looked at Mei, likely being reminded of his own daughter.
There is a tense relationship on the Rocinante between Avasarala/Bobby and Holden and his crew, and even Holden's crew are more fractured mainly between Holden and Nagata (seems like Alex and Amos are just going with either of the two). Holden might have stopped playing hero, but he is still on high horse, taking decisions arrogantly. As someone else said in the other comment section, leadership doesn't seem to be Holden's strongest suite, and it would be interesting if there would be more dynamics coming off out of this situation.
In a world where bodies are cheap, disposable, and replaceable, being a Meth makes one not just a metaphorical but literal God. Sharing their "bone and blood" is seen as a blessing, where their artificial immortality allows them to take the same shapes for centuries to come. Ghostwalker's rambling about his faith and the closing fight scene tread on this theme of body and mind, Altered Carbon's strongest suite. Between this theme of bodily significance we are shown the way truth and lies closely interwoven, as the Bancroft case seems to end soon.
However the intricate plot rests on a bit shaky acting. The reveal from previous episode needs better acting from the parts of both Kinnaman (Takeshi Kovacs) and Lachman (Reileen Kawahara). The mind-shattering should have given devastating impact to Kovacs, yet we barely see its effect. The same can be said with Ortega-Takeshi interaction, which we're not given enough time to feel the strong emotions between the two.
The rest of it seems to be nicely knitted though, as subplots begin to show their entanglement to each other. Perhaps not the easiest to follow - as the other comments seem to suggest - but that's just what you have with cyberpunk in the vein of Blade Runner.
Pretty enjoyable, enough tense with this new Jesus character (though it's less the tense if you're familiar with the comics), introduction of new community, and the expected calm before the storm.
I wonder why they put Morgan's flashback in this episode. I was expecting his flashback to be told a bit later, or with more exposition. It's nice, but it feels a bit too hurried in the last half of the episode.
The phenomenon the episode depicts already happens to some part in our society: data scores in United Kingdom (or Chinese Social Credit if you want to turn a blind eye to Western surveillance system), and social media algorithms that prioritize influencers. Black Mirror's magic is combining the two and making it as mundane as possible (thus rendering it as relatable) through a desperate story of a middle class woman trying to get a better housing by approval of influencers.
Great acting from Bryce Dallas-Howard and Susan Taylor (who played the old truck driver). I don't feel any sequences of the episode is dragged on; the desperate, cringey attempts of Lacie to win her scores over makes the episode painful to watch as we can definitely see ourselves in her position. I really like the very pristine, filtered pink-ish look of Lacie's life in the first half of the episode and the contrast between her and the world around her as her score dropped down in the second half.
Perhaps the best thing that ever come up since Disney's Star Wars buyout. The whole episode about the heist was intense. From the shaky march, the hesitated jamming, the heist itself, the botched consequences, the climax, and the wrapup. It's really tense even until the wrapup as conflict still arose and quickly resolved. During the climax it has a really great visuals of the Eye - quite a spectacle as the commandant would say - although TIE fighers ended up becoming cannon fodder again.
Well done! Obi-Wan and The Mandalorian writers should be ashamed.
"There's fomenting out there, sir. Pockets of fomenting."
Great episode. Still taking it slow in pace but establishes the world perfectly. The metal clanker signaling start day and end of day. The trigger-happy corpo soldiers eager to get into action in times of imperial slow bureaucracy. The flashback of Kenari kids. The whole world feels very lived in. I particularly like Mosk's line: "Corporate Tactical Forces are the Empire's first line of defense." Really makes you think what kind of political institution the Empire is: relying on private security company to do their job.
So far this has felt like Altered Carbon (Season 1) or The Expanse, set in Star Wars universe. That's really a feat: brings me back to pre-Disney, classic Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Finale might be a bit rushed, but I don't find it that bad. It's a perfect ending to the pilot's strong note, keeping it true with the theme of the world: No one wins at Night City.
If it was David's crushing poverty that sets the tone really bleak in the first episode, here the trap they got themselves into feel similarly oppressive. Once you're cornered by the big corporations you really can't make it out alive. I also really like that the series up to the finale keeps character's death as surprises - thing that just happens, without dramatic exit. Night City eats you up alive and often without warning.
Despite being sorely bleak, the episode still manages to serve some justice to the characters to some extent - as with Faraday being killed and both Falco and Lucy made it out alive. The series might not be the strongest anime out this season but as a tie in to the game it does the job quite well.
Solid episode all around. The Boys staying true to its criticism on woke capitalism (carnivals overselling LGBT empowerment) while portraying how the supes despite being antagonists are still human. Loved that scene with Kimiko and Crimson Countess: showing Kimiko's childhood innocence and Crimson Countess' human side. And this episode returns to remind us that Butcher is not a hero, but a cruel, supe-hating murderer.
The first two episodes were weak but this one is The Expanse back at its finest. I really liked how they get up close and personal with the crews in each ships/stations - Rocinante, Tynan, Pella, even Ceres - but then they also zoom out and see things in bird view. The Expanse has always been the strongest in world building, and this episode they show it really well when the characters were observing the news. The politics is also slightly back in with the combined forces of Earth and Mars dealing with Marco leaving Ceres. I also liked how they return to working on Naomi's character as well as they did before: with simple, short dialogues between Naomi and Holden about Naomi recovering from Pella incident and working on her best as data analyst. About Naomi, in the last sequence I also liked that it was not Naomi who pulled the trigger off (I was expecting some typical melodramatic "no don't do it" stuff), but it was Holden.
Amos and Miller have the best lines. Holden's interaction with Miller is nice bittersweet throwback to the time they've spent fighting together during Eros incident. The showdown with Murtry feels a bit anticlimactic, but I suppose it's necessary to keep the story on its direction. It focuses on finishing the New Terra story arc.
There is a nice development of Holden's character, that perhaps summed up his character in the last two seasons, during his conversation with Murtry. "I met a guy who liked to talk about past genocides to justify his bullshit. A friend of mine shot him in the face." The guy was Dresden in S02. Whereas back then Holden was confused, cautious, and reluctant - shown as he was very angry with Miller about it - here he seems to be more confident and thought Miller actually did the right thing. It's also interesting that every time Holden refers to Miller, he always says "a friend" or "someone I know" instead of mentioning him by name (see e.g. Holden's conversation with Dawes).
This episode has suspense, action, mystery, and character development. All the classic The Expanse is back after a noticeable lag on previous episodes.
"And when the best and brightest start leaving, it's gonna be just people like you and me left on this rock. Mars died the moment they discovered those new worlds."
This is the kind of moments I watch The Expanse for. The struggle for survival, the struggle to live the good life for the ordinary men. The great changes affecting our protagonists' lives the rest of the people in the universe too - and it's through their views we get to see the breath of life in The Expanse universe.
Bobbie's story arc has been up and down in this season, but it has made a very good world-building: the life on Mars, life of colonization, the underworld, the unemployment crisis - while Holden gets to venture the new world, million others have to face a consequence of his action and decision. It's kinda surprising that Esai Martin seems very humane considering his initial appearance.
Holden's venture, on the other hand, remains rather bleak. It's not the greatest point of the series, especially with how they write Holden on-and-off: sometimes as a white knight who strive for the good of all, sometimes as a reluctant hero who seemed to be annoyed at every turn. The mini plotpoint with Amos seems to hint something more, but leaves much to be desired, especially with his love interest, Wei, who appears merely as a potential obstacle in the soon-to-happen climax.
The Expanse always does their best in the episodes nearing finale however, and especially their cliffhanger ending. In just a matter of minutes, suspense returns, reminiscing the Season 1 where they investigate protomolecule for the first time. There is something eerie on seeing a projection of a dead man, glitching in the matrix, letting out a rather restrained scream.
The Boys has always been about bringing down superheroes to their mundane, daily lives as ordinary humans--with desires, hopes, anxieties. This episode shows it the best.
We get to see Starlight with Hughie interacting further, A-Train juggling with his addiction and relationship, The Deep with his anxieties about finding purpose in his life, and finally, Homelander, the iconic face of noble superhero, with his cold, irreverent view of strangers, a complete opposite of the corporate brand of "good guy" he always attempts to create. Starlight and Homelander makes a stark contrast here, while Queen Meave seems to tread carefully of this line of about being human with powers. The plane scene was an emotional fuck ups that plays this dynamics quite nicely, albeit in very vulgar way.
This episode has enough tense while still maintaining occasional humor without creating disconnection from the tense it had been building up. The weird part perhaps is the way Frenchie interacts with the girl, as it may seem like it's coming from nowhere. But the rest of the episode is engaging to watch.
The part where Takeshi and Rei decided to go their own way could've been a bit more convincing. It took them too fast to risk everything in their lives. However the other parts are well made. The consistent theme of life and death that has been brought since first episode is discussed here with some questions and statements that would make you think for a bit. The scenes are cinematic, particularly the part where they circle Takeshi's loss. The twist near the end of the episode is great. Not Altered Carbon's greatest episode but still delivers well.
Dense episode with "just right" pacing. Plot moves fast, bringing attention to the finally revealed antagonist Amahl Farouk with him finally meeting face to face with Haller. The interaction was great - not just it steers the plot towards clear direction, but also helps revealing the condition of Oliver and Lenny. Like the previous episode, there are some of weaker parts - again with David and Syd interaction (on how easy Syd is convinced that David is not making up the Syd-from-the-future, especially since in the previous episode it was established that Syd is a bit reluctant to trust David) - a bit distracting but doesn't disturb the pace. Navid Nehgaban did stellar performance as Farouk, establishing the character hard and fast. At the same time the story introduceslooming threat in the shadows while still plays Legion's hallmark mind-battles (as shown in Season 1). Flashy images but not too dragging that it keeps me engaged until the episode ends. Great start for this season.
Just the right amount of dream sequences and narrative. Some scenes actually get pretty thrilling to watch, as if you're watching a thriller/horror with that right atmosphere. Legion in this episode has maintained the illusion/reality quite well. So far this might be one of the better episodes where the fascination of the pilot episode can be maintained with actual plot progression.
Legion has been playing with the boundaries between illusion and reality, but until this episode it's been maintained under the pretext of it being "memories". This episode plays out that boundaries again (and in a nice believable twist with King the dog being figment of his imagination and Lenny that is actually a man called Benny), but not only that, it also extends the boundaries further with pivotal scenes in reality (such as dr. Poole actually being The Eye).
As with time travel, however, the illusion/reality bend is a plot device difficult to master: with the right pull it could be a clever play of foreshadowed subtleties, but plays it too much and you lost all the novelties. We've seen this ruined initially great shows such as Heroes and the anime Bleach, but we can see how it is employed wonderfully in shows such as Awake. Legion has just started on treading this plot device and I hope to see this plays out more cleverly in the next episodes.
In other notes, in line with the illusion/reality bend plot device, the show has been starting to explain how things work in their world, also giving other spotlight to other mutants and their powers, sometimes in not so subtle way (e.g. direct reference to Kerry/Cary age and physical body). The transition between explanation and characters acting like in their world feels rather rough sometimes, but I'm hoping this would be smoother as the story unfolds.
It was intense, to say the least. This episode is good in that it can maintain the action while still doing several character developments: Fr. Gabriel, Heath (the eye-glasses Alexandrian supply-runner), and of course Carol. While everyone is focusing on Carol, I'm hoping Morgan to have more interesting development in the future, especially when his pacifism finally has to face The Survivors' brutality.
It started a bit slow but once it gets into the action it plays really nicely. Some people were seemingly presented to be cannon fodders, on the other hand some scenes make you wonder if one of the recurring cast is going to survive this season or not for their way of life in Walking Dead's post apocalyptic world. Especially with one Alexandrian holding the gun.
Carol once again takes the spotlight for being a badass. And the cold-blooded Carol is contrasted nicely with Morgan's peaceful approach. In the middle of conflict, there's also this little bit of drama of some Alexandrian still holding resentment to Rick's group. Good episode.
Quite a well-done thriller with three separate but intersecting plotlines. It started out as an unnerving thriller, transforming into a horror, then into a drama reminiscent of The Entire History of You, before all the plotlines suddenly are knitted together. Like with other Black Mirror episodes, the questions surrounding technology - AI, consciousness, legal repercussions - is a background that only gets a nod (especially with the ending where "I Wish It Could Be a Christmas Everyday", an interesting choice of music) and they leave it to the audience to talk about after the episode ends.
Strong episode. A bit cliched tropes - botched gig, amateur who hesitated, lead messing up, ending with everyone dead - but the execution was well done. There's enough tense, enough mystery, enough grit, and the intro sequence was well done to send Maine off with a bang. Still not sure why the heck they had to fetch Tanaka and what's the point of all those though.
Pretty good episode since the pilot. The action was right, so was the character development and the air of mystery. Like a true edgerunning gig.
This is the best episode of Star Wars Visions. It didn't try to bite more than it can chew (didn't misunderstand the whole Jedi/Sith trope like the other episodes do) and the 15 minutes duration didn't overstay the welcome. This is the episode worthy of its own series; even as it stands, with the air of mystery like that, it already feels like a pilot episode.
Anyway this is the one that I would say a proper Star Wars in anime form. This could pass as one of Expanded Universe episodes, perhaps sometime before The Phantom Menace (they even get the hairlock right!). It plays the classic master-apprentice dynamics with a cautious wise master teaching his over-eager apprentice itching for action (the dialogue about Jedi philosophy was excellent - something that sorely lacking in the new Disney Star Wars). They were drawn by the power of a dark entity, that might seem to have more secrets than what meets the eye (again, they did it right with the signature yellow-eyed dark side wielders!). There is enough suspense in this episode that I got to watch this seriously, and they also did the action choreography right as with other TRIGGER anime. Great characters as well.
My only complain about the episode is the kind of abrupt climax. Though if this is supposed to be a tease, then the episode did it really right.
This is a good episode for two reasons:
As a pilot, this sets the tone directly. Not overdone humor, enough action, and enough world-building. The mechanics is there, brief background of our protagonists are there, and the conflict is there. Ed came off as a reasonable but still haughty/bratty state alchemist. Compare this to the pilot in FMA: Brotherhood which introduced too many characters, etc, which gets confusing.
Compared to the same episode in FMA: Brotherhood, this one explains much better why the priest was beloved by his people. The people are not just blind fanatics mesmerized by miracle, but benefit materially from him. There is also enough character development between Ed & Al with the others so they don't come off as haughty edgy atheists barging to people's door. More time to set the tone and silently establishes the bigger antagonists as well.
The only thing jarring here is the people just have to be brown just because they live in desert lol. Stereotype of very 2000-ish anime.
