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

[Wrathbone]

Well, I think his point with the episode length is that it isn't fast or intense. And that chopping the story into such short chunks is a cynical way of trying to get people to keep up their Disney+ subscription for longer.

But as far as I know it doesn’t have significantly more episodes than other Star Wars series, so the episode length is irrelevant in that regard. In fact Andor, which everyone fawns over and frankly I think is overrated, had 12 episodes compared to 8 for The Mandolorian (per season) and Ahsoka, 7 for Boba Fett and 6 for Obi Wan.

Also, quite a few Mandalorian episodes were of a similar length (and Wandavision, and probably others) and nobody gave a shit about it for them, so I don’t think it’s entirely fair criticism.

Acolyte is far from perfect, but I’m baffled as to why it’s garnered so much disproportionate hate compared to other series. I seem to remember Boba Fett (which I think most would agree was pretty poor except for the Mando episode) got criticism that was not only reasonable and tempered but light-hearted, joking about his teen biker gang and other silly things. The typical criticism of Acolyte is vicious, mean and spiteful. People seem to loathe it beyond reason. That’s what I find so surprising and disappointing.

[Raid]

I feel the same way. I don't think it's an amazing show, but I really don't understand why it's earning quite so much hate. Perhaps we're just working through Yoda's Dark Side progression; Boba Fett lead to fear, Obi Wan lead to anger, Acolyte leads to hate... if their next show has people wailing in the streets then we'll know I'm right.

I'm enjoying what's there, but it all feels a bit TV-by-numbers to me. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with Disney shows all having a formula, but all of the Star Wars shows feel basically the same, which is weird when they take place in quite different settings and eras. I can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly; maybe it's the camera work or the script writing or the pacing, but it feels like there's a rhythm to them beyond just the usual beginning, complication, twist, resolution formula that's been the case with TV storytelling for decades. I think in isolation it wouldn't be an issue, but as someone who watches all of these (at least the Star Wars stuff, I've largely given up on the Marvel shows now) when they air it just makes them feel less exciting.

[Wrathbone]

I'm enjoying what's there, but it all feels a bit TV-by-numbers to me. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with Disney shows all having a formula, but all of the Star Wars shows feel basically the same, which is weird when they take place in quite different settings and eras.

That is fair criticism. I think part of it is that aside from a few key characters, most of the shows have little personality. They're too clean-cut to stand out from one another. If you look at the pre-Disney Star Wars films, the original trilogy and prequel trilogy have their own distinct tones, but even within the trilogies each film has its own individuality. As down as I am on Andor, I'll grant that it's tonally quite different from the other Star Wars shows, which may be why so many people like it.

Maybe (and I could be entirely wrong here) it's that the shows have a teenage / young-adult tone and level of complexity, and the people who grew up loving the prequels are now jaded adults who expect more adult-oriented TV. Even the people who were the target age for the sequel trilogy will be adults now. Star Wars has always been aimed primarily at 10-16 year olds (historically for toy sales), and I've never had a problem with that and can perfectly enjoy something aimed at children so long as its decent. If I'm right, Gen Z are experiencing their first Star Wars stuff not aimed directly at them, which may be why they're increasingly annoyed with it. And us Millennials, Gen X-ers and Boomers are just tired and fed up of everything regardless.

[Sly Boots]

It took me a while to warm to Andor. So much so that I took about a six-month break between the second episode and the third . But when I went back to it determined to watch the rest, because of all the acclaim, by about episode 4 it all clicked for me and after that I thought it was excellent. As bleak as fuck, so you have to be in the right frame of mind for it, but probably the best SW series I've seen after S1 Mando.

Incidentally, found out the other day my wife's cousin is in the Acolyte. He's in episode 2, I've only seen stills, but in the scene with the fat Jedi he's the other Jedi stood left of him. The one holding the lightsaber:

https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp- ... e-2-13.jpg

He and his gf apparently close friends with Headland.

[ManBearSquid]

Top Boy

Aw man, I loved this. Some of the character writing was so good for a cast mainly full of people doing objectively bad things. Sully's arc stood out to me the most, his acting was on point.

I never expected to like it all that much as, to be honest, that whole gangsta grime London subculture holds very little interest to me, but it's very good. Much of the slang was very new to me, but I understand the most difficult to understand Glaswegians so I'm adaptable.

Started Summerhouse, which I was aware of as being the beginning of it all but, as mentioned, I didn't think I'd enjoy Top Boy as much as I did so figured I'd start with the fancier production. I'm also happy enough going back to it as a sort of prequel.

[Wrathbone]

The latest Acolyte episode is not going to convert anybody. Even I thought it made some bloody awful plot choices.

Spoiler

Padawan Torbin kicks off all the trouble with the witches because he’s homesick. That’s his entire motivation.

Mae’s fire didn’t actually hurt anyone, and most of the witches appear to have died by being having the plug pulled on their force possession.

Sol was mostly justified in killing the mother as she was doing some super-dark force stuff directed at Mae, so what’s the big deal? Why all the secrecy? Surely the Jedi code permits killing someone unarmed - especially a force user - if they’re directly harming a child.

The wookiee fight was good and there were some interesting lore implications, and it almost made some good points about the dark side exploiting the insecurities and self-importance of the Jedi (hence their ultimate downfall), but this episode has somewhat fucked up the overall story of the series.

[Raid]

Star Trek: Prodigy

I posted a quick review of the first season of what is ostensibly a kids show a few years back. At the time I said I was hesitant to recommend it to adults because, well, it's obviously aimed at a younger audience and has a lot of the tropes that adults may find irritating. The first half of season 1 maybe needs powering through for anyone not watching with their kids; it has the bog-standard bratty wise-cracking main character and his group of misfit friends, in command of a Federation starship with the only adult aboard being a hologram of Captain Janeway. It's a silly premise, but it's told with so much heart that I think it's impossible for it not to grow on you. The second half of the season is where it picks up.

And then there's season 2. I've seen long-time Trek fans calling season 2 the strongest season of Star Trek ever made, and while I wouldn't go that far (that's SNW season 1), honestly I can see their point. The story (which spans the entire season) is a fantastic time-travel plot that connects directly to season 1. Just about every character in the main cast has more progression than most of the live-action ones ever had, the returning cast of Voyager alumni are brilliant with one actor getting a redemption that they've needed for 20 years, and there's one other returning character that takes on an entertaining new role that I won't spoil.

There's an absolute ton of material here that will mean nothing to the younger audience and is clearly aimed at people that grew up with the 90s stuff. It maybe gets a little over-referency at times, but it's reasonably natural and nowhere near as blatant as Lower Decks where the characters may as well be screaming "HEY, REMEMBER TOM PARIS?!" directly into the screen

This was saved by Netflix (which now has both full seasons), remarkable in itself considering they're usually the ones cancelling everything. I'm not just telling you to watch it in the vain hope that it convinces them to green-light a season 3 (which it sets up, but not as a cliffhanger), but it wouldn't hurt, and you're getting a fun, extremely well-acted and written show out of it at the same time.

[Raid]

The latest Acolyte episode is not going to convert anybody. Even I thought it made some bloody awful plot choices.

Spoiler

Padawan Torbin kicks off all the trouble with the witches because he’s homesick. That’s his entire motivation.

Mae’s fire didn’t actually hurt anyone, and most of the witches appear to have died by being having the plug pulled on their force possession.

Sol was mostly justified in killing the mother as she was doing some super-dark force stuff directed at Mae, so what’s the big deal? Why all the secrecy? Surely the Jedi code permits killing someone unarmed - especially a force user - if they’re directly harming a child.

The wookiee fight was good and there were some interesting lore implications, and it almost made some good points about the dark side exploiting the insecurities and self-importance of the Jedi (hence their ultimate downfall), but this episode has somewhat fucked up the overall story of the series.

That sequence was hugely confusing, to the point where I'm not sure if it was badly directed, purposefully obtuse, or butchered in the edit.

Spoiler

Torbin is either still under the influence in some way, or he's an absolutely terrible Jedi. He's constantly trying to escalate, and while Jedi arrogance has certainly been established, there's just no way that he'd be allowed a lightsaber if something as basic as homesickness would drive him to strike the first blow. The Jedi can read minds, someone that unstable couldn't be part of the order.

Mae runs in. Sol yells Osha. The previous episode demonstrates that Sol can tell the two girls apart, and her thoughts can't possibly be hidden in a situation like that. I don't understand why Sol makes that mistake.

And then what in the hell is Mother Aniseya supposed to be doing? Is she trying to teleport Mae? I can understand why Sol thinks this may be an attack as it does look aggressive, and in all of the times we see this style of force magic, Jedi are shown to not understand it so it's believable that Sol doesn't know what it is. But why would he instinctively think Aniseya intends to harm one of the girls? Is it just sheer Jedi arrogance that he thinks anything other than the way the Jedi use the force is dangerous? Assuming what she's doing isn't actually harmful, why would she do something so vulnerable directly in front of someone she knows is armed and is hostile towards her?

My guess is that Sol thinks he reacted too quickly in striking Aniseya, killing a child's mother right in front of her. I think it's clear from his expression immediately afterwards that he doesn't really know what had just happened. I think that's the guilt he's living with, it's not as simple as he was acting to save a child. That this action led to the death of every other member of Osha's family is reason enough to keep it hidden from her.

Other than that I quite enjoyed the episode, I just hope that there's more context to come.

[Animalmother]

Deadloch
An Australian black comedy set in Tasmania. I'm not sure if I can recommend it after just watching the first episode. It is very funny and very, very Australian but it might be trying a bit too hard if that makes sense. A dead body washes up on the beach and the local police sargent tries to investigate. Everyone is an oddball and swears constantly. I'll watch a few more and see if I stick with it.

[Sly Boots]

So, having recently finished S4 of The Boys (and with apologies to Rusty, I still really enjoyed it, particularly the last few episodes), I started watching the Gen V spinoff. I think someone here mentioned it a while back, maybe Animal? But in any case, halfway through the season now, and it's great. Definitely one to watch alongside the main series - by all accounts S2 of Gen V will tie into S5 of The Boys to some extent.

Such a shame one of the main actors died in a fatal crash prior to shooting the second series

[Animalmother]

Yeah that was me (and Snowy I think). Finished The Boys S4 and really enjoyed it and well. Silly, gory and ridiculous fun was had. The not even thinly veiled parody of American politics and right wing media would be hilarious if it didn't feel so real. The "how do we resolve this characters story arc?" is normally with a meat explosion. Generation V is good fun as well but the cross over bits in The Boys left me a bit confused as I remembered none of it.

[Raid]

Half of the script for The Boys season 4 could have been written by an AI trained just from watching Fox News. It leaned way too heavily into the right wing media nonsense, to the point of taking me out of the actual plot. I think I enjoyed Gen V more than this most recent season. I had the same complaint a few years back with the Stormfront stuff.

[Snowy]

Such a shame one of the main actors died in a fatal crash prior to shooting the second series

I wasn't aware of that, what a shame RIP

[Raid]

Cobra Kai season 6 - Firstly I'd suggest holding off on watching this. They've published five episodes (the last being double-length) of a total of, I think, 15, but the next lot aren't coming out until November. I don't understand why they think this is a good way of publishing a series, they did the same thing with the last season of Better Call Saul and it completely killed the momentum (though it was definitely more of a travesty there than with this fun, easy-watching martial arts story).

Anyway, the series is definitely past its best now, it's been stretched out too much and they keep having to manufacture reasons for the characters to switch sides for the drama. Maybe this is a sign of aging, but I just want all of the obvious good guys to be happy rather than bickering constantly. The kids are entering an international karate championship this year, and it could so easily have been the season where everyone finally joins forces to put an end to the Bad Karate people to honour the legacy of the Good Karate person, and it's a happy triumph against adversity story, but they're kinda scraping the barrel in terms of manufactured conflict instead.

[Wrathbone]

Agreed with all of that. I rewatched Cobra Kai from the start prior to season 6 and it peaks around the end of season 3. The later seasons are still fun, but you're spot on about the manfactured conflict. By season 4 most of the major conflicts have been resolved, so they microwave some leftover beef between characters to make them artificially angry at each other for a few episodes.

It still kind of works with the absolute melodrama, though, because it's intentionally written to be silly and overblown. We're talking about adults who are wilfully resolving spats between children and a disturbed Vietnam veteran by encouraging them to compete in various forms of karate wars. It's definitely time for it to end, but I'll miss it when it's done and dusted.