Good TV (aka, the TV series spamthread), the second series

[Hatredsheart]

Really enjoying Dopesick on Disney+ atm, drama about big pharma (Perdue in particular) and the Oxycontin addiction epidemic. Told from the points of view of the makers, the peddlers, the victims and the investigators, Michael Keaton does a great job.

[Raid]

So I finished Arcane. I think this has been my biggest TV surprise of the year, at least partially because I'd had no intention of watching a TV series based on a game I've never played from a genre I don't care for. It's excellent, and not just because it looks phenomenally good (there's not a single part of the aesthetic I didn't love). The story's better than I was expecting, and the ending of this first season doesn't disappoint. My only minor complaints were that a couple of elements felt a bit rushed;

Spoiler

Vi's relationship with Caitlyn comes out of nowhere, and Jayce goes on one clandestine mission and suddenly he's known as the guy with the hammer?

I'm very much looking forward to a second season.

[Achtung Englander]

Squid Game

So I am going to join the chorus. A splendid show which induced every human emotion in me - thrills, sadness, excitement, anger, surprise, shock. Ep 6 and Ep 9 are amazing. This is the best TV I have seen since Gomorrah season 1. The direction, editing and music all superb. I am so glad a subtitled production is getting so much praise.

I hope they don't fuck up season 2 - I am not sure how the producers can move this forward.

10/10

[arqueturus]

*Wheel of Time*

Just to add to the heap. Utterly terrible. I spent the first episode going 'That never happened in the book' , 'I don't remember that'.

The books weren't brilliant. But the first 5 or so were decent but then they petered off. This is just piss poor in all the ways. How on earth have they squandered a (fairly) rich backdrop for generic fantasy and as someone said, kept trying to drag it somewhere low.

Deary me.

[Raid]

Finished Cowboy Bebop. Overall enjoyed it (again as someone totally ignorant of the anime) but that goodwill is almost completely erased by the very last scene, where they introduce a new character, that made me want to pull out my eyes and ram them into my ears, rendering me unable to see or hear what was happening.

Ironically, the reason for this is that the actor has clearly studied and is doing an accurate impression of the anime character in question, but in live action the result is offputtingly horrible.

I'd be interested in hearing Raid's view of this scene

So I've finished it now too, and I think for the most part it's a good show. I still don't think it really approaches the anime, but I misjudged it a bit initially. That first episode is extremely similar to the first episode of the original, albeit with some added material (the anime episodes are only 20 minutes or so long, the Netflix show episodes are more than twice that), and I thought it was going to be a straight, if padded remake, but it is instead a much looser adaptation. It didn't help that the new intro is filled with recognisable images from the anime, but the contexts they're used in are often quite different, which gave me the wrong impression.

I'm going to spoiler the rest, although most of this is a general discussion rather than specifics.

Spoiler

I don't really agree with the direction they've taken the characters in. Spike is fairly similar to his anime counterpart, Jet diverges quite a bit, and Faye may as well be someone else. Elements of each characters' backstories are present, but their dialogue and general demeanour are, in some cases, radically altered. Firstly, there's more of a sense of comradery than in the original - Faye never really got close to the others, she was utterly mercenary and would leave at the drop of a hat, at least in the first half, but in this new version they team up far more quickly.

They've heavily reworked some of the plots, often I feel for cost reasons. The original had a lot of stuff set in space, and even though the show looks quite expensive at times, I get the feeling they had to cut a lot of the smaller craft stuff because it would require a lot of rendering. Faye's Red Tail only shows up at the end (disappointing given it's one of my absolute favourite sci-fi fighter designs), Jet's Hammerhead doesn't feature at all, and Spike's Swordfish only really appears begrudgingly. A lot of the other sci-fi visual elements have been removed too, replaced with 60s-era Americana that doesn't really fit for me given the setting.

The new soundtrack is passable, but it lacks so much of the character of the original. As I said in my initial impression, they have snippets of the original in there, but I was surprised at how little of it there was. I honestly wonder whether they scored it first with the original soundtrack, and realised it didn't really fit the tone, and then they had to hurriedly improvise a decent but non-descript jazz track for the majority. I'm remarking at this because the soundtrack was a massive part of the original - the episodes were referred to as "sessions" and the name of each one was a music reference. It really feels like a huge omission.

And on that very last scene:

Spoiler

I think Ed was a bit of a marmite character in the original. She was loud and deliberately annoying, but she was also completely alien in portrayal - she moved like a stoned acrobat and she had precisely zero respect for social graces. It was that juxtaposition to the rest of the cast that made her endearing. I was not expecting this to translate well to a live-action production. Still, I was not prepared for how bad a job they'd do. She had been mentioned in a previous episode, but her first appearance was a fucking awful way to introduce her. In the anime her first episode has her greatly assisting the crew with a bounty, so by that point she's earned their respect, although to ram home the point she wants to join, she literally commandeers the Bebop remotely and crashes it so she can come aboard. In this she just wanders up to Spike in an alleyway and yells in his face? And they filmed her closeups with a fisheye lens just to make her look all the more terrible? What the fuck?

Netflix did a brief short introducing the actress playing her a few days back, and she's clearly quite passionate about the character. I kinda fear a little for her, because I think fans are going to see that short, terrible scene, and immediately head to social media to say how annoying she is.

[Sly Boots]

I'm glad it grew on you a bit more, as I did quite enjoy it.

That said the only way I'll watch a S2 is if they completely rework that character.

[Raid]

I reckon they've only been introduced so late to gauge reaction to the portrayal, allowing them time to rework the character. I think they were always going to be divisive and I knew they'd have to be toned down a little compared to the anime portrayal, but it was just such a poorly thought out scene.

[Snowy]

Well Wheel of Time continues to disappoint. I am really not understanding the positive reviews it is managing to garner, the effects and storytelling are piss-poor. They introduced the character of Loial in the most recent episode, a race supposed to be 9 or 10 feet tall, with ears as expressive as many dogs. Instead we get a bloke with dreadlocks, clompy boots and comedy foam hands that he is incapable of moving who stands no taller than the character he is in the room with.

Meantime the story as originally written continues to be completely disregarded in a huge way.

Spoiler

The false dragon Logain is captured and gentled then taken to Tar Valon. In the books he is first seen by Matt and Rand in Caemlyn, where loads of key characters are introduced - Siuan Sanche (the Amyrlin Seat), Elayne Trakand(one of Rand's future squeezes and also one of the main characters in the series), her mother Morgase, queen of Caemlyn and another important character, Elaida the red ajah Aes Sedai adviser to Morgase and again a key character, not to mention Elayne's two brothers who also have important roles to play in the books.

Also, the bond between warder and Aes Sedai - apparently Lan can be drugged and Moiraine doesn't notice. And Billy Suicide, the warder whose Aes Sedai has been killed, what is the fucking point of all the weepy bollocks - in the story as written warders whose Aes Sedai have been killed head into the blight to war against the shadow until they die in the attempt. A proper fucking hardcore way to go out, not the shitty ending that Billy wastes our time with.

Instead the episode is wasted by what is referred to my my household as wafty bollocks. 5 minutes of unnecessary wafty shite at the start with everyone processioning about po-faced in the snow carting bodies about so they can be 'buried' in slight depressions in the snowy ground in the shape of spokes in a wheel, while others fart about carrying candles because reasons while the score punts out the obligatory ethereal wailings. Then another 10 minutes at the end where more wafting happens, this time because a character who doesn't even appear in the books has died. Cue more faux-mystical whiffling, this time with everyone dressed for a toga party repeatedly punching themselves in the chest before Lan (a crag-faced emotionless slayer in the books) starts bellowing his grief at Mr Not-In-The-Books demise.

When you have a relatively short window to tell a story, wasting time with inconsequential shite is mind-boggling. Then again, the scriptwriters made up 90% of the content of the episode.

Not sure why I am still watching - morbid fascination and desperate hope I think. God it is bad.

[Animalmother]

Sounds very similar to The Walking Dead tv show, there's 193 comics of material to work from but most of the show is either made up or farts around in one location for a season. I know AMC wouldn't give the show makers any money for a few seasons but don't waste what you have on pointless shit.

[Snowy]

Yup, read TWD too and it is exactly that. Here, have loads of content that is already written for you. Oh, you seem to have ignored it thinking you could do better. Newsflash....

[eny]

Fascinating docu about the manipulation of psychology and how it has infected a nation via its embrace by right-wing media since the Nixon era. The transformation of her dad from start to finish is revealing and there are some great insights shared throughout. The last half hour is particularly enlightening. Worthy watch. I think it is available on Netflix and Amazon too.

[Hatredsheart]

Enjoying this hugely. It's not on Netflix and is only available on Prime for an additional charge so youtube's the way to go.

[Snowy]

Holy crap the Youtube still for that gave me a shock. The guy on the right is an absolute carbon copy of my Uncle Alan, who died several years ago. Honestly everything, the tache, the glasses, the hearing aid. I think that might be my first ever quintuple-take

[Alan]

Goliath s4
I quite liked that one. Billy takes on opioids and the day off big pharma, JK Simmons. There’s a lot of rediculous rubbish but it’s entertaining. Every character’s a caricature, every question a conspiracy. I also really appreciate the work they put in to their throa throw away 5min pre episode vignettes.

1>4>3=2

[Sly Boots]

Cobra Kai

This is great, why haven't I watched it until now?!