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

[Achtung Englander]

Handmaids Tale

I might come back to this. Stopped after a couple of episodes of season 2 - it felt like one of those shows that will go on and on repeating itself like The Walking Dead

[Hatredsheart]

Handmaids Tale

I might come back to this. Stopped after a couple of episodes of season 2 - it felt like one of those shows that will go on and on repeating itself like The Walking Dead

Funny you should say that, season 4's starting on Sunday....

[Animalmother]

Season 2 of Black Summer is on Netflix. It's the good but kind of crap prequel to Z Nation. The first episode of the new season is very like a live action Last of Us in a way. Most of the sequences are a long continuous shot (but you do notice the cgi in places) with the camera focusing on one character. As I said it's not great but is very watchable.

[Alan]

So handmaids tale just referenced fortnite. I just…. What?

[Raid]

Loki

The third of Marvel's phase 4 TV series started last week, and it's grabbed me right from the start. That was always going to be likely given Loki was probably my favourite of the MCU characters, but the theming is on point for me. It's another short series with just six episodes (though they've already confirmed there's going to be a second season), and it's perhaps a little exposition heavy, but without going too much into spoiler territory, it's a time travel / multiverse story which is just my jam. It looks amazing with great direction and lighting, the sixties / seventies office aesthetic that's very reminiscent of Control just works well for this sort of fantastical environment, and the original score hits a lot of buttons for me too. It does have a slightly awkward use of Holding Out for a Hero over an action scene which doesn't quite live up the energy of the song, but it wins points back for the synth work.

I really enjoyed Wandavision, but it took a few episodes to really get going. I liked Falcon and Winter Soldier for the most part, but found the ending to be a bit lacking. Loki so far has a lot going for it, I hope it continues with this level of quality.

[Animalmother]

Katla
Icelandic series that just started on Netflix. A volcano has been erupting for a year and a nearby town is all but abandoned, weird shit starts happening. Everything is covered in a layer of black ash and makes it look like a different planet. Watched the first 2 or 3 episodes and so far it's very good. It's hard to compare it with something else without giving away too much of the plot. I went in without watching the trailer and I think that's the best way. Deffo worth a watch.

[Raid]

24

I suppose it's unsurprising given that I've now watched all 204 episodes of 24 that I quite enjoyed it. I started back in February expecting to maybe watch the first and second season, and I doubt there's been a day since where I haven't watched at least one episode. There aren't many series I could say this for; never in the course of those 204 episodes did I ever feel bored. It gets a bit absurd in places, some of the twists come out of literally nowhere which feels a bit cheap, and characters can completely reverse-face on their thinking or allegiances to suit the needs of the story, but it's never dull. The last series (well, half series), Live Another Day, has the completely brilliant moment of the US President walking out into the middle of a deserted Wembley stadium only to be blown up by a hellfire missile fired from a hijacked US super stealth drone - in context it's quite reasonable despite being just hilariously ridiculous when you sit back and think about it, and that's down to some pretty good showrunning.

I don't think I'll bother with 24: Legacy, which as far as I'm aware doesn't feature Jack Bauer at all, and I just don't see that working (nor have I heard good things about it). Kiefer Sutherland is the reason 24 is so compelling; Jack Bauer is superhuman and has just the thickest of plot armour, but Sutherland just completely sells it.

[Alan]

Them (Prime vid)

Watched the first few and this is excellent so far! Black family move into an all white neighborhood in the 50’s and are subjected to dual horrors of white dobbers being dobbers as well as ghostly spookies being spooky. Very nicely shot, well acted and heaps of atmosphere.


Liseys Story
Still slowly plugging away, it’s still not great but it did get slightly better than the first ep. I’m not exactly a fan of the book either and this is ever more daft. Booya moon looks quite nice though, I guess.

[Achtung Englander]

Mare of Easttown (Sky)

This is pretty good. Solid acting by Winslett and others. Its pretty dark (depressing) but the story is good with some nice surprises.
8/10

[Achtung Englander]

Rick and Morty Season 1 (Netflix)

So thanks to this forum who recommended it, I got around to seeing it. Yes it is hilarious. 10/10

Will continue onto season 2...

[Raid]

Rick and Morty only gets better. Almost every episode of season 2 is a classic.

[Mantis]

Season 5 is currently airing and the two episodes out so far have maintained standards.

I absolutely love that show.

[Raid]

Godzilla: Singular Point

If you saw the name "Godzilla" in an anime title, what would you expect the thrust of the story to be? If you answered "quantum mechanics, metamaterials and AI", I'd say you cheated and looked at a plot synopsis.

This series was weird. I know the whole Kaiju rampage through Japan thing has been done a few times by now, but it's included here as an afterthought rather than a significant focus. This really needn't have "Godzilla" in the title, because he's used as background for the latter third of the series and could have been literally any other apocalyptic threat. What the show terms "Kaiju" appear throughout this, but most of them are the size of real-world animals and they're not really what you imagine when you hear the word.

It's not terrible per se, I still enjoyed it, but I wouldn't have chosen to watch it had I known the content.

[2Channelwonder]

24

I suppose it's unsurprising given that I've now watched all 204 episodes of 24 that I quite enjoyed it. I started back in February expecting to maybe watch the first and second season, and I doubt there's been a day since where I haven't watched at least one episode. There aren't many series I could say this for; never in the course of those 204 episodes did I ever feel bored. It gets a bit absurd in places, some of the twists come out of literally nowhere which feels a bit cheap, and characters can completely reverse-face on their thinking or allegiances to suit the needs of the story, but it's never dull.

I don't think I'll bother with 24: Legacy, which as far as I'm aware doesn't feature Jack Bauer at all, and I just don't see that working (nor have I heard good things about it). Kiefer Sutherland is the reason 24 is so compelling; Jack Bauer is superhuman and has just the thickest of plot armour, but Sutherland just completely sells it.

Firstly I don't even want to consider that it's 204 episodes of television given that the BBC showed the first two series at least twice then Channel 5 just let Sky take over, so thankfully rellies kept me supplied by recording it off TV before I gave up and just bought the DVDs at the end of each year when Sky finished showing each series. There was some repetition which was sometimes a bit more grating than the absurdity but then again that's the literal return to writing for that week's episode of television rather than having 24 completed scripts immediately.

24 Legacy strangely had the same problem as the main show, there was one storyline which was just soap opera level mediocre bollocks and was just used to pad out the main plotline but it was addictive enough for have me watch seven out of the 12 episodes in one sitting before waiting for the rest to come down in price then finally bought the blu ray to round it off, it was OK but fans are waiting for Jack to come back like you say, the one-off film was cancelled then Kiefer Sutherland went off to Designated Survivor. Hopefully it'll happen within the next five years if Fox Television is now Disney owned but Imagine television are independent so it's all about whether Sutherland would feel typecast having a one-off film round things off.

[Raid]

The End of the F***ing World

Two teenage anti-social strangers run away together and bond over a shared trauma. I loved this; despite both being pretty awful people, the two lead characters are really well acted and thus surprisingly sympathetic. Great soundtrack too.