Been kinda weary about American Gods s2 since the previous showrunners were sacked/quit, but according to Gaiman the new showrunner has a very firm, true and faithful grasp of both the book and what the show should be. Gives me hope there won’t be too much of a drop in quality or “identity” to the show.
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Oh, if you guys like dark comedies, check out the new HBO show Barry, first episode aired last night. About a hitman who's become depressed and numb, feeling like there ought to be more to his life, who on a job in L.A. "stumbles into" an acting class and finds his calling. It's bleak and existential while being truly clever and funny when it wants. I'll be watching this one for sure.
Aside from The Handmaid's Tale S2 that comes out July, I'll be watching Picnic At Hanging Rock. There is a book which this show is adapted from. The movie (1975) is a mystery/horror about 3 girls and a teacher who go missing, and is the best movie Australia has made imho. So I'm excited and apprehensive about this series. I put 2 in the spoilers that have been playing on TV, as well as the preview of the 1975 movie.
Was I alone in being rather underwhelmed with the Westworld Season 2 premier? A large portion of it seemed really heavy-handed and cheesy (mainly dialogue and Dolores' portion). It's been a while since the first season so I understand some recap is necessary, but a lot of it felt like needless exposition. I don't really remember being put off by what the characters were saying in the first season. And honestly, I was also somewhat bored until the final scene or two of the episode, which sort of redeemed it and where the season could be headed.
It wasn't perfect but neither was season 1, honestly. The main thing I felt it lacked was Anthony Hopkins to act as a central pillar. Those are big shoes to fill and i don't think they quite have an answer yet.
The only thing that underwhelmed me that I wasn't expecting was the Bernard stuff.
Sort of a rough start for Bernard's plot thread. His amnesia (data corruption), the tall douche guy hamming it up, and the return of Ms. Zero Charisma. It's hard to find an angle from which to enjoy it so far. Sort of hoping the Heimsworth brother can salvage it somehow.
I think they made a good move bringing the writer guy with Thandi Newton's character. She, at least in this role, is one of those Lawrence Fishburn type deals. She does the confident bordering on snide thing really well but isn't able to bring a lot outside of that. So a slightly comedic character like him will hopefully round her out a little.
Ed Harris is Ed Harris. So that's obviously a win.
Dolorous and Teddy I'm unsure about. So far I think Dolorious was a lot more interesting when she wasn't sure what she was and conflicted about everything. Now that she's in the Wyatt persona... I don't dislike it but it feels pretty straight forward. Teddy was clearly the more interesting of the duo to me.
I'm not necessarily saying I didn't like it... I guess my post sounds more severe than I meant. I'm not on the precipice of giving up on it or anything, as the "mystery" of the show has sort of been expanded/reinvigorated with the new story-telling device they introduced. Only that a good portion of the dialogue felt rather awkward in comparison to last season. We're expected to believe that the hosts are advancing to the point of being their own people, but some of them are waaay more convincing than others.
I think often with season premieres I more often than not end up feeling content at best since so much of it contains recaps/exposition, and that usually ends up annoying me a bit.
Not wow'ed, but I did like it. Clearly a recap/setup episode. Some dialogue was indeed quite tacky, and and I'm really sure what I should think of Dolores/Wyatt. But I like that they are keeping the gimmick of playing with inter cut timelines. Well, it's not really a twist anymore, but I do also like the classic "What the hell lead to this?" -scenario.
Beautifully shot episode.
Let's see where this goes. I hope it is as well written and surprising as first season. For now I doubt it a little though. This opener was after all a pretty formulaic continuation episode.
Westworld
Just started watching this show into Season 1 and it's confusing towards the end, but I'm getting the hang of it. My only thing is, where exactly is the story going from here?. Is it about the synthetics becoming rulers of Earth or something or Humans learning about their true nature as beings. About to start Season 2 this week.
Westworld
Just started watching this show into Season 1 and it's confusing towards the end, but I'm getting the hang of it. My only thing is, where exactly is the story going from here?. Is it about the synthetics becoming rulers of Earth or something or Humans learning about their true nature as beings. About to start Season 2 this week.
That question still isn't really answered (and I'm guessing won't be for some time), so don't feel bad about being lost. I enjoyed the second episode more than the season premiere, but where the show is going is still not anything close to being clear.
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Finished up The Terror last night. Really amazing 10 episodes of television IMO. Now I'll have to read the book since a lot of context is lost and there's much more of an epilogue. Try to imagine an 1840s version of The Thing with a more fantasy-based thing going for it instead of science fiction. With the depth of characterization you'd get from any top-tier television drama. Pulls no punches, has great pacing, just great.
Apparently there's potential for a second season, but not sure what it'll be based on. Seems just as likely that they'll introduce a new story, since this book's story is pretty much "complete" in this first season...
Sure, if I can find some time then I'm happy help out with that...
... though if the GoT gets too many awards I'm not sure I'll be able to cope.
Season 1 and 2, perhaps... but there are so many better things this year than season 7 GoT
Every damn “Emmy nominations are out” post made by film/TV sites on Facebook included a picture of Jon Snow and said something like “but Jon Snow got snubbed” or “none for Kit Harrington, however”.
WHY ON EARTH would he even be considered a candidate for nomination? Seriously, WHO thinks his performance has been good enough to earn anything more than a “eh... he’s not terrible”?
It's Lost all over again. "The good seasons were snubbed by us, but we have agree with the public that it was pretty big thing after all, so let's shower them with nominations on the last few shite seasons".
Yeah, the nominations have steadily gone up, even though GoT has always had at least double-digit nominations since the beginning. LOST's recognition in this area was more like a lot in the beginning, dwindled off a bit in the middle seasons, and then a bunch for the final season too, even though they didn't win any that year. I think GoT still has the record for most wins in a year though, but that was for Season 5 in 2015. Which is at least slightly more palatable for me than it coming in Season 6 or 7 when the show really started going off the rails.
Every damn “Emmy nominations are out” post made by film/TV sites on Facebook included a picture of Jon Snow and said something like “but Jon Snow got snubbed” or “none for Kit Harrington, however”.
WHY ON EARTH would he even be considered a candidate for nomination? Seriously, WHO thinks his performance has been good enough to earn anything more than a “eh... he’s not terrible”?
I could say the same thing for Clarke honestly... I mean, most of the time I don't find their performances terrible or anything. I guess I should give Clarke more credit and say that despite her performance being very one-note, she still has her moments here and there. But other times she can be rather jarring. Harrington is more understated and even, but not really in any inspiring way in all honesty. He's just.... there, his mopey-ness betraying the stoic nature of his character.
Those two are the ones they put on all promotional materials as "leads" of sorts, but the show has always been carried by the performance of nearly everyone else in the show. For some reason Dinklage has been stuck, drunkenly languishing since Season 5... for some unknown reason?
I could say the same thing for Clarke honestly... I mean, most of the time I don't find their performances terrible or anything. I guess I should give Clarke more credit and say that despite her performance being very one-note, she still has her moments here and there. But other times she can be rather jarring. Harrington is more understated and even, but not really in any inspiring way in all honesty. He's just.... there, his mopey-ness betraying the stoic nature of his character.
Those two are the ones they put on all promotional materials as "leads" of sorts, but the show has always been carried by the performance of nearly everyone else in the show. For some reason Dinklage has been stuck, drunkenly languishing since Season 5... for some unknown reason?
Absolutely agree. I’ve strongly disliked Daenarys most of the time since season 2. And while most of that lies in the writing and directing, it still has a lot to do with Clarke’s performance. As you say, she has her “better” moments, but I mostly just downright despise her character in the show. (She’s not a favorite in the books either, but there her character is more interesting precisely because she’s not the “center” of the story like the show seems to want her to be..)
A lot of the show’s steady decline can be credited to when the show-runners decided the show should revolve around these two. And casual viewers eat this shit up, it seems.
Like I said, most of this isn’t all because of their performances, which aren’t really horrible.. it’s just, I don’t think anyone could have made these characters close to award-worthy...
Absolutely agree. I’ve strongly disliked Daenarys most of the time since season 2. And while most of that lies in the writing and directing, it still has a lot to do with Clarke’s performance. As you say, she has her “better” moments, but I mostly just downright despise her character in the show. (She’s not a favorite in the books either, but there her character is more interesting precisely because she’s not the “center” of the story like the show seems to want her to be..)
A lot of the show’s steady decline can be credited to when the show-runners decided the show should revolve around these two. And casual viewers eat this shit up, it seems.
Like I said, most of this isn’t all because of their performances, which aren’t really horrible.. it’s just, I don’t think anyone could have made these characters close to award-worthy...
Yeah, but I think a lot of that comes from D&D's inability to see that it's perfectly fine to dislike her as a character, especially as her story progresses. There can be things you like about her, you can sympathize for what she's been through, etc. But that doesn't mean she's the bonafide heroine that the story needs.... and the show writers decided that she had to be that.
Yeah, and that decision was made easier when they decided to consolidate the storylines and merged them together for the sake of some sort of conclusion.
I’ve been hyping this show since back when Terry Jones was set to adapt it. Then when it was revealed Neil is doing it himself, as well as casting reveal, has given me a minor heart attack out of excitement. I don’t think I’ve ever hyped a show this much.
Unlike how The Colour of Magic (another Pratchett book which I rank highly) TV series was...
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